Top 5 Greatest Sitcom Casts EVER

So here is something I have always wanted to do. For a sitcom to be successful it helps if you have a strong cast. Of course most successful shows do (and I’ve talked about the shows that didn’t but fixed it later). What do I mean by a strong cast? Actors that not only elevated the material of the show they were in, . But even more than that,  a cast where EVERYONE elevated the material. Some shows will have a main character or two and the rest of the characters are just there, to be there. They contribute nothing except getting in some jokes. A good example is Murphy Brown, there were plenty of episode where the other characters either had one line and then vanished or didn't appear at all! The best casts get contributions from every member, every episode. Not just when the plot needs it. And it also helps if the actors went on to be successful long after the show ended

Just for fun, and in my opinion, which five shows had the best cast of them all? A little criteria here. It had to have been a hit show, that’s kind of a no brainer, lasing at least four seasons. Also adding to the cast is fine but it has to be a cast where few if any left (a character leaving for a spin off DOES NOT count). If the show ended with an entirely different cast than it started that’s not the same. So no Happy Days even though the cast they had for the bulk of their run was fantastic. And more than four leads, because if I add the shows with smaller casts we’ll be here all day!


#5.WKRP in Cincinnati

This barely counts being only four seasons but I’m counting it. This was not the greatest show ever, by far, but one thing I always admired was the cast for this show. Gary Sandy, Gordon Jump, Frank Bonner, Richard Sanders, Tim Reid. These were all supporting actors who came together and melded in this show. Howard Hesseman of course and Jan Smithers. Oh did I mention Loni Anderson? Wow. This show wasn’t much, it was the cast that made it work.

My 10 Favorite Christmas Movie Moments

A long while back I talked about Christmas movie moments that were a tad..out there. But one thing I never discussed were my favorite Christmas movie moments of all time. Not the whole movie, just a scene. It’s a scene I have to see when watching the film always brings a smile to my face no matter how much I watch it

Here are my favorite Christmas movie moments. No specific order and in this case, theatrical films only.

The Santa Clause
I’ve gushed about this movie before, but here I give you my favorite scene in the film. It’s beautifully staged, as we see the wonders of this Santa’s Workshop while Scott and Charlie make their descent. The best part is that choir singing. This movie doesn’t have the strongest soundtrack but damn I love that Christmas Bell Carol. Sadly, this is the best clip I could find.

And while the second movie was hardly awful there aren’t to many memorable scenes. Here is one sweet one.

Five Villains Made Up for the Batman TV Series

So before we turn to the holidays I wanted to continue my discussion of characters made up for franchises by TV or other media. In this case, it’s the colorful characters for the Batman TV series.

 

 Of course the 60’s campy Batman series had the familiar cast of villains Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, Mr. Freeze (with three versions no less! FYI Otto Preminger was the best). But there were some which made for and by the TV series. And most of them were… pretty lame to be honest. Louie The Lilac? Really? Don’t get me started on Shame. I can still hear that kid calling his name in my head!!!



Here are five of these who, in my opinion, become a little more memorable than the others.





King Tut

The thing I like about this one is that this one of the few villains, new or otherwise, to actually have a background given to him. Something which makes him a more defined character. Which may be one reason he’s stuck around a little more than others. He was a well-respected professor until during a protest a rock hit his head. He then believed from then on that he was the reincarnation of King Tutankhamen, and his goal was to claim his city as his own. Course to make it even better the amazing and fun Victor Buono played him and hammed it up every second. I mean, reaalllyy hammed it up. He was just plan fun to watch.

Five Thanksgiving Episodes I DO NOT Like

Well, they can’t all be gems. Yeah I’ve talked about great Thanksgiving episodes, but of course there are plenty of stupid one’s. I already mentioned a couple when I discussed Roseanne, Frasier, and Home Improvement but are there any more? Sure.

Here are five Thanksgiving episodes which I just found lame. And of course this is all opinion, if you like these episodes than that’s cool.







Family Ties, “No Nukes Is Good Nukes”

I know people will disagree with me on this one so let’s get it out of the way. Oh season one Family Ties, why did you have to be so lame? This is a sensitive one but it rubs me the wrong way. It’s Family Ties at the Keaton’s so what are Steven and Elyse planning to do? They’re planning to protest at an anti-nuclear weapons rally. In 1982. Ok ok the Cold War was alive and well and the two are doing what they have every right to do, but why on Thanksgiving? Course they get arrested, just Will and Uncle Phil on “Fresh Prince”. Thought at least this was for a cause, a lot the “A Different World” episode with a similar setup but there the cause was topical and the arrests a pure accident. Of course the family shows up at the prison with Thanksgiving dinner, like on that Christmas episode of Step by Step. Hmmm. Maybe that’s my real issue with this episode, not the politics but the fact the plot is so damn cliched!

Top 10 Friends Thanksgiving Episodes

Normally for Thanksgiving I like to go over sitcom Thanksgiving episodes. Except for the two years I did nothing that is. In the past I've either reviewed one episode for a series, or an overview of an entire series worth of episodes. But so far I haven't talked about one sitcom that was almost synonymous with Thanksgiving. Which show?

Yep, Friends did a memorable and clever Thanksgiving episode ever year. Well, nearly every year. And I decided it was finally time to decide which was the best, and the worst. From the looks of it I am not the first to do this. By any means. Oh well, every list is different so there's that. Here's my list anyway. Here are my top 10 Friends Thanksgiving episodes, from worst to best.

#10."The One With the List" (Season 2)

When I said they did great Thanksgiving episodes every year, meet the exception. Season two gave us no real Thanksgiving episode unless you count the B story here which I really don't. But I needed 10 episodes, so....

My Tribute-Five Stan Lee Cameo’s Outside the MCU

As you all probably know I am a DC Comics guy. But in spite of that, I still knew who Stan Lee was and respected him for what he accomplished in creating The Marvel Universe. Almost every character that fans love today Lee either created or at least had a hand in. From Spider-Man to The Fantastic Four! He was a legend and will be missed, having passed away today at the age of 95.

 

For me, I grew to know up by watching Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. He narrated episodes of that and I always knew what a “True believer” was. Though someone please explain to me where Excelsior comes from? I wanted to do a small tribute to him because he truly deserves one. I’d wager there aren’t many who never read a comic book who still don’t have at least some idea who Stan Lee was.That’s why his cameo’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are always so loved. He’s made so many that it’s amazing, and they are all memorable and fun. But others have covered those cameos, and frankly did a great job doing so. A lot better than I anyway. Especially considering how many I never saw. So instead, I thought it might be fun to look at his TV appearances outside the MCU, where he appeared to tell a joke or wink at the audience. Yes I know he played characters too once in awhile.




Muppet Babies
Yeah you read that right. If you’re familiar with the 80’s cartoin you know they were doing dozens of homages and spoofs. Spider-Man was no exception. And when they did Spider-Man, guess who gets the last word?

Five Characters Made Up for Non-Canon Star Trek

I talked about how Superfriends decided to add a little diversity to its roster by inventing a few Superheroes who were not original DC characters. This really isn’t unusual, all of the DC and Marvel TV shows or movies have invented all new characters. Some caught on and became regular characters in the main comic.

(Harley Quinn anyone?).

Star Trek is no exception to this, as far as their non-canon material goes. Of course non-canon means that as far as the TV and movies are concerned, the events never took place. So why not throw some new characters in there? Especially since the books and comics had specific rules regrading what they could and could not do with the main characters. Here are five Star Trek characters totally created for non-canon material.


Bearclaw

For a period of time when DC published Star Trek, it must have occurred to them that there were only so many stories they could tell with the original crew. So they invented some new characters to work alongside the established nine. This way they could explore these characters without harming the canon behind the main crew. Despite that stupid name, Ensign Bearclaw was one of the. He was the kind of character you’d never see on a Gene Roddenberry helmed series. He was brash, rude, and arrogant. He wanted to be a good officer but his bigotry would often get in the way. As a result he would scuffle with the other officers and but head’s with Kirk most of the time.

Five Superheroes Created Just For “Superfriends”

I’ve talked before about Superfriends. And how I loved it as a kid. And think it’s kind of silly today. But one of the ore interesting things that this show did was with the characters. Despite having a wide array of DC characters to pick from, the show introduced their own new creations to fight alongside the recognizable heroes. They weren’t given any origins or anything, they were just there. And for the most part only appeared in the cartoon!

 

These characters were probably meant to replace more familiar faces, and no doubt also to add a bit if diversity to the group since they are all of different ethnic background. Problem is this was before political correctness, so these characters could almost be considered stereotypical today. So for those who have never heard if them, here are five characters totally created by, and for, Superfriends.



Apache Chief

This one was the coolest, even if he was also a bit of a stereotype of Native Americans. But he probably got the most screen time and was possibly the most memorable. He had the powers to grow to unlimited sizes. Plus he had a “sixth sense” which gave him a sort of enhanced perception. He even got an origin in one episode which is pretty impressive. He was also the only one who had a nemesis, Giganta who was a female who could also grow to ridiculous sizes.

A Look at Mickey Mouse Merchandise and Commercials

So this weekend is Mickey’s 90th birthday. Well technically ABC is celebrating it this weekend.  And I can’t believe it! I remember when he turned sixty. He has been around a long time and I love him.  I was trying to come with a tribute, but had trouble. In the years of doing this I’ve obviously talked about Mickey. In fact five years ago I did a run down of his changing appearances in TV and movies in one of my personal favorite articles. But then I remembered an area I covered back in June for Garfield (and even earlier for Star Trek) which Mickey sure as hell has more impact. Merchandise!

 

And as I said, Mickey is all over this! I mean all you have to do is go to Disney World. Or Disneyland. Or The Disney Store in dozens of malls. Or mail order. Or Disney.com. Or really any store anywhere. He is a merchandise machine and there are people out there who have dozens of collectibles and memorabilia. So for his 90th birthday let’s take a look back at the character through some of the things his face has been put on. No, not all, you want to be here all day? Just a sample.


Let’s start with the obvious…


Yes there are stuffed animals. In my day I owned more than one Mickey Mouse. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, in fact they fit pretty much every theme you can think of. I shared this pic because it comes to looking the Mickey I had as a small child.






By the way, has Mickey been a Macy’s balloon? Are you kidding?????

In fact Mickey was around when the parade was just getting started (with a hideous balloon which matched the hideous costumes used back then).

Ten TV Theme's with Secret Lyrics

So last time I talked about theme songs I mentioned how some theme's are extended into full length songs. But an even cooler thing some may not know is that a lot of iconic instrumental theme's do in fact have lyrics. Some were created for the show but never used, others added after the fact for whatever reason.


Here are ten theme's with the lyrics which you may have never heard before:





I Love Lucy

This one isn't really a surprise the instrumental version practically screams the words. Truth is though, as is the case with most of these, it's a lot better without the words.