Five Reasons I Suddenly Love “Modern Family”

 

Premiering in 2009 for years I avoided the acclaimed show Modern Family. Oh I knew it was on but it just never grabbed me. It wasn’t for silly reasons like the network it was on or it featured a gay couple. It was because it was mockumentary style! 

While technically this was around before, The Office made this trend take off. And while it worked for that show, it drives me nuts they every show had to do it since. From Park and Rec all the way to the current Abbott Elementary (which is excellent btw). Why do I hate it? It’s several things. I’m a sucker for traditional three camera shows with a studio audience. So this hand held camera with no audience bugs me. Why I never watch The Middle! And of course what’s even worst is the thing these are famous for, those ridiculous testimonials. Ugh, it’s so lame! I mean The Brady Bunch is fake because they’re happy but characters stopping to do testimonials is real?? It’s also lazy. Why have the characters actions tell what’s going on when they can stare at a camera and tell us directly? 

However the last year or two I finally gave Modern Family a try (you know me, on top of a trend!) and ended up loving it. It’s so well done I got sucked in. With all the comments I’ve made against it for its entire network run, it’s time to share some love. So why does this show work? 

Here are five reasons. 

Five Things I Liked in Spider-man 3

 Recently I decided to revisit the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. It’s hard to believe the first one is over 20 years old! As I watched them something occurred to me, The first was sillier than I remember. The second was ok. AndI think of the three the third one is the closest to being a good movie. ok ok let me explain…

Spider-Man 3 was released on April 30,2007 and people were pumped that they were doing the whole Venom story. Even I was as that was the only Spidee-Man story I ever read. And, yeah, it was a letdown in many ways. But I insist there are good things in this movie! 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #35

 We’ve reached the end! And it feels like it 

#35.Be true to your school (no yourself)

Featuring Flint

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #34

 Finally! A helmet psa! 

#33.Seatbelts 

Featuring Cross Country and Beachhead

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #33

 I knew we’d hit a healthy eating one eventually 

#33.Eating healthy

Featuring Lifeline

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #32

Is 911 not a thing in this world either? 

#32.Passing out 

Featuring Airtight

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #31

Um did we do this one already?

#32.Fire (again) 

Featuring Barbecue

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s #30

 If you’ve been in college you know this happens sadly

#30.Fire alarms 

Featuring Barbecue

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#29

 Yeah this one is very relatable 

#29.Getting lost 

Featuring Alpine

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#28

Oh great more kids home alone! 

#28.Fire 

Featuring Blowtorch 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#27

 It’s amazing how much stupid you can put in 30 seconds. 

#27.Dont fight 

Featuring Cutter 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#26

Were life jackets a new thing in the 80’s?

#26 Life jackets 

Featuring Deep Six 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#25

Let’s talk about the other one I never forgot 

#25.Lightning 

Featuring Deep Six

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#24

 So theres no adult supervision in this world??

#24.Ventilation 

Featuring Dial Tone

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#23

 Bet this sounded good on paper 

#23.Other people’s medicine 

Featuring Doc 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#22

 I think there may be a few other issues here 

#22.Reflectors 

Featuring Dusty

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#21

 Flint is back with better advice! 

#21.Be honest 

Featuring Flint 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#20

Another one that’s to rushed! 

#20.Teamwork 

Featuring Flint 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#19

Let’s looks at my absolute favorite one! 

#19.Nose bleeds 

Featuring Footloose 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#18

It’s time for a little mysogyny! 

#18. Don’t judge 

Featuring Gung-Ho

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#17

 A lot of these are dated. Not this one!

#17.Railroad crossings 

Featuring Hawk

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#16

Let’s talk about my favorite Joe ever! 

 

#16.Figure it out 

Featuring Lady Jaye

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#15

 Don’t the Joe’s usually act before the kid gets injured? 

#15.Use Sunblock

Featuring Leatherneck

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#14

So this was from before leash laws?

#14.Stray dogs

Featuring Mutt

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#13

 Who the heck is Quick Kick?

#13.Plan (yeah that’s it) 

Featuring Quick Kick

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#12

Well I know someone who missed that Punky Brewster episode I talked about before 

#12.Dont get in things that can trap you 

Featuring Recondo

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#11

 Well finally found one dumber than the tread water one 

#11.Get Glasses (?)

Featuring Ripcord 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#10

 Yes kids, scams existed before the internet! 

#10.Strangers 

Featuring Roadblock

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#9

 Talk about a stupid name for such a badass character 

#9.Down Wires 

Featuring Roadblock

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#8

Let’s see that psa from the other day done right! 

#8.Don’t give up

Featuring Scarlet 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#7

 I forgot shipwreck appeared again! 

#7.Stealing

Featuring Shipwreck 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#6

 Some Joe names are just lame 

#6.Frozen ponds 

Featuring Snow Job

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#5

Let’s see if Spirit gives better advice today! 

#5.Blindness doesn’t equal useless 

Featuring Spirit 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#4

 So where do these kids find these adult free places? 

#4.Fire Safety 

Featuring Spirit 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#3

 Today we present what happens when you run out of ideas! 

#3.Treading Water 

Featuring Torpedo 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#2

Let’s continue our look at the G.I.Joe PSA’s with this little gem featuring a character I don’t remember at all, Wild Bill

 

. 

#2.Stanger Danger

Featuring Wild Bill 

A Look at G.I.Joe 80’s PSA’s:#1

When I was growing up and growing out of cartoons, the last cartoon I watched daily was G.I.Joe. I loved that show and never missed it at 4:30.

One of the more memorable parts were the tags. It was a stupid rule that all children’s shows had to have some educational element (god forbid kids just be entertained). He-Man has Psa’s but they were usually lame attempts to connect the episode to a world lesson. Sometimes they worked but usually they were forced. 

G.I.Joe offered basic health and safety tips. Kids would be in a situation and a Joe would appear to talk them out of it safely. There were 35 produced of course some better than others. At first I wasn’t sure which to cover. Then I thought, why not all of them? 

So that’s what I’ll do, run thru one a day and give my opinion if the psa was good or not. Of course this is all in good fun, these are 40 years old almost! Let’s start with…

#1.Dont run away 

Featuring Shipwreck 

Top 10 TV & Movie Batman Actors (live and animated)

 So while in the past I’ve compared some of the Batman’s we’ve gotten but not all, or aspects of them like there designs, but I decided it was time to finally rank them all together. Live action, animated, tv and movies.. who was the best Batman? 

So I am taking into account the character as a whole, which version is the Batman I prefer? The one thing I’m not including are the serials. I’m sure that actor did a great job, but I’ve never seen them. Same with the video games which I’m also not counting. 

#10.Clooney 

I just talked about this so won’t go on long. I rewatched this minute and couldn’t believe how awful he was as batman. Man talk about bad casting meeting an actor not even caring. I mean dude at least change your voice!!!

Top 5 Worst Superman Movies

 So one thing I’ve never done is rank the Superman movies. There’s one simple reason for this, they’re obvious. They were pretty much released in order of quality! But which are the five worst? Ah..let’s discuss! 

It’s funny. I love Superman but these movies are so lousy I never watch them. This is the kind of character that just works better on episodic tv, movies don’t work. So the question is, which one has the more memorable moments? Something in them that I can point to and say “yeah, I like that”. 

And only live action movies are counted. 

#5.Man of Steel

This movie did a few horrible things that tainted it including passive Jon Kent and the meaningless neck snap. Worst of all, Supermen not caring about people as they are getting hurt. But at least Henry Cavill plays a good Superman and he has decent chemistry with Amy Adam’s. And points for having a new villain and an idea that hadn’t been done to death. And if you’re wondering I decided justice league didn’t count.

Five Things I Liked in “Batman & Robin”

 As you may know I like to do things I like in bad movies and thinks I hated in good movies. But there’s one little movie I’ve ignored up to now. Because, what’s to like? But I decided after almost thirty years it was time to rewatch:

I literally have not seen this since it came out. It premiered June 12, 1997 and killed the Batman movie franchise. But is it really that bad? Yeah….lets discuss 

Seinfeld Episodes That Are Still Relevant Today

 I recently found an article all about episodes of Seinfeld which are still relevant today. Which is an interesting idea. Awhile back I did an article on some of the episodes which have become dated the last thirty years, which can happen. For example “the couch” and that abortion stuff. Who would have guessed that guys line about someday having enough justices on the Supreme Court to change that law would come true?? 

However some episodes remain timeless, even more so. However, I disagreed with some of the choices this author picked as examples. So I decided to do my own list!

Seinfeld was not a show that was so set in its time period that it was instantly dated (Murphy Brown and Will & Grace anyone?). However, thirty years is still a long time and that's gonna make any sitcom seem out of touch. Heck, imagine what Friends would be like today? Still some episodes managed to touch on things so timeless that the episode is still relevant today. Here are ten examples (in broadcast order).

Underrated Trek: Counterpoint (VOY)

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 however I’m gonna do the opposite. I've done two or three of these now on episodes I strongly disagreed with, I mean so much so I refused to watch them again, and today I wanted to discuss one of the biggest examples if this. This episode is considered one of Voyager's finest. Then why is it I can't stand it? The day has finally arrived to give a second chance to.....

Don't get me wrong, I know I can not like it if I choose. But when sooo many people say it's good, I can't help but wonder if I a missing something. Am I? 

Famous Sitcom Scenes:Punky Brewster

 Today let's go back to Punky Brewster. For a show specifically aimed at little kids it managed very memorable, even scary, episodes. We already went over Brandon getting hit by a car but there was also the haunted cave that traumatized us, the Challenger episode, and of course the episode I wanted to discuss today. 

This comes from the episode "Cherie LifeSaver" which aired January 19, 1986. When you can remember the TV Guide ad for the episode vividly almost 40 years later, you can imagine the impact the actual episode made! 

Famous Sitcom Scenes:Growing Pains

Let's resume our look at famous sitcom scenes. Last time I said that the scene from Fresh Prince was so famous, I'd bet even people who never watched the show had heard of it. Well, today we have another scene from a different show which I'd wager is just as well known. Today let's talk about...

This is "Second Chance" from season 4. Aired April 12,1989. Oh yeah, we're doing this one! This scene works on several levels but let's discuss it. 

Sitcom Episode Face-Off:Happy Days vs Punky Brewster

Hello my friends, welcome back as I take two episodes of different series with the same plot and see which did it better. I haven't done one in awhile because after doing a few I couldn't decide on any other good matches. But then I was thinking of these for a famous scenes article and realized they are so damn similar, why not match them up? So here we go. Today let's talk about two very light shows which managed to get serious at times. In this case it involves characters getting into serious accidents (both offscreen of course).

vs

So let's go over "RICHIE ALMOST DIES" (subtle) from Happy Days season 5 episode 18 and Punky Brewster "I Love You, Brandon" from season 1 episode 18. Yeah I didn't make a mistake they were both Episode 18, weird. Oh and by the way I had to change the categories a bit for this.

Famous Sitcom Scenes:Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

 I had a new idea I thought I would try. Rather than just discuss an episode, I would take a famous scene from a sitcom and go over it. Sometimes a scene can leave such an impact that it transcends the show and becomes a part of pop culture. Chances are you can never see the show, but you have heard of this scene. And the impact is real even if you just watch the scene without any context for the rest of the show. So, I wanted to go over famous scenes and discuss why it worked (or possibly, failed).

Today I wanted to discuss a scene from a little show called..

This scene comes to us from episode 24, season 4 called "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse". (yep, that one!) aired May 9, 1994. Yeah almost thirty years ago, how scary is that! -