A long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I did an article on production companies. I was always fascinated by the companies that gave us the wonderful shows we grew up with. I also talked about the end credits were a bigger deal in my day, we’d actually watch them and for many shows it wasn’t complete until we saw that production logo at the end. Such as Miller/Boyett Productions which gave us those wonderful TGIF shows everyone still talks about.
or how about the bright/kaufman/crane title card at the end of every episode of Friends?
Most of the time it was nothing fancy, a title card you hardly notice let alone care about (like the Carsey-Werner shows or the Witt-Thomas-Harris shows including Golden Girls). But occasionally a company would give us something special. They’d do a quick second clip of something so creative or memorable that it would become iconic all on its own.
For example, if anyone saw a Stephen J Cannell production no way you don’t remember this:
When I was young in the 80s we had reunion movies. Where classic sitcom casts would reunite for one last hurrah in two hour format. Everything from Gillian’s Island to The Brady Bunch to Andy Griffith. But in the last ten years as 90s shows are now old enough for reunions, someone decided “hey why not another run with a series?”
Ok it’s not that strange. In the 90s we had “New Leave it Beaver” and “New Addams Family” and even “New WKRP in Cincinnati” to name a few (we won’t mention “The Brady’s). But thanks to streaming services, Though some were network, we got several reboots. I mentioned a couple before but a lot I’ve never gone over. So now that this trend seems to finally be waning, let’s briefly discuss ten reboots and whether they were worth the reboot.
It really makes me feel old that this came out almost 35 ago. I thought it came out in 1987 but I guess it was technically early 1988, but whatever. I loved this event and still do---even though it's one of DC's lamest events. So you may wonder, if it's not that good why do I love it? I'm so glad you asked.
This event had a pretty big build up since the hook was that every on going comic was going to reveal that a supporting cast member was, in fact, a Manhunter in disguise. I'll come back to that, but first let me explain the story.
Manhunters preceded the Green Lantern Corps but were banished after betraying the Gaurdians of the Universe. They hid until some event which would make them act again and employed sleeper agents on Earth to watch the Heroes and learn all about them. So what was that finally caused them to act? Long story short, A guardian and a Zamoran show up on Earth announcing they are selecting ten people on Earth to advance the human race. The heroes have to protect these ten while they are prepared for this, at the same as sleeper agents attack to distract them. The sleeper agents could be anyone including those closest and most trusted by the heroes. And yeah, that's the story. As the Gaurdians train these ten people the rest of the heroes are either protecting them or fighting the Manhunter agents.
Back when Cheers was new, something kind of unusual happened. A short episode was produced for the United States government all about the benefit of savings bond. The episode, if you can even call it that, is 11 minutes long and never aired on TV.
Sadly the clip is not on YouTube but Venmeo. So if you want to watch it you need to CLICK HERE
The funny thing is that this was not the first time Cheers did a segment for another show. I guess it makes sense, the show was a mega hit for NBC so of course the network is gonna use the show to promote there own network. Though sometimes, these appearances had nothing to do with NBC. The funny thing is if you go thru these clips you geta nice history of the series, from the early Shelley Long days to the later years with Kirstie Alley, Here are a few times when Cheers made an appearance on another show other than there own.
NBC PREVIEW
In what I think is an embarrassing one the relatively new series serves as the framing device for NBC's new 1983 fall lineup.
Ok the Cheers stuff was lame but good lord do I wish TV was like this again. Sigh, I miss the old days when networks were one big happy family.
If there is one subject I covered to death here, it’s Star Trek. Nealy 55 years of TV shows and movies have created a franchise almost unique in its popularity. True, I react to the new shows with the same shrug of indifference my parents had to the Next Generation when it came around. But while I can’t embrace the way Trek is today I can respect that it’s still growing and thriving. However, despite over 150 articles there is one thing I never did. Discuss the opening titles for each series.
One reason may be that until recently there were only four, so it may not have seemed worth it. And I did do a run down of movie music so it’s only fair to go over the TV openings. I went back and forth on whether or not this should be a “Top 10” or not. I decided not to, and instead we’ll just go through them and discuss what I liked, and didn’t, about each.
Star Trek
It’s fantastic. What else can I say? A simple beauty pass of the Enterprise with great narration by William Shatnr. What makes the “Where no man” speech so great is how simple it is. It’s not a convluted backstory that we can’t grasp. No, it’s this is the name of the ship and what we’re out here looking for. Simple message statement. I do have on one gripe. I talked before about how in these days shows often listed one, maybe two, big stars of the shows and the rest are relegated to “co-starring” during the end credis. This is show is a prime example of that, with only Shatner and Nimoy listed. At least season two they added DeForest Kelly. I always wanted to see a an opening that had all the name and thnakfully the new series all did away with that nonesens. The haunting music is perfect too and makes this the iconic theme it is. Music by Alexander Courage, of course.
Well I discussed Hannah Barbera it’s only fair to finally give some love to Filmation.
Founded in 1962 by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland, and Norm Prescott
the company produced some great, and not so great, cartoons for over
thirty years. Before they went defunct in 1989. I mentioned one a few
weeks ago, The Tarzan, Lone Rangers, Zorro Adventure Hour was three
Filmation productions mashed into one. What else did they produce? A
LOT!!!
This is not a “top 10” or a “favorite” list, just an overview. The
reason for that is while Filmation was a great company, it never really
rose Hannah Barbera levels and most its cartoons are remembered for
being, silly. Well animated perhaps, but silly. This is because they
were more interested in turning out material than they were making
quality. So you’ll notice similar animation styles and stock animation
used in a LOT in their programs. And speaking of those programs, here
are some noteworthy examples:
The New Adventures of Superman
One of the first Superman cartoons after the Fleischer days and they
borrowed heavily from them. There was a Superboy cartoon also.
Before
I even begin, no I have not seen the new “Joker” movie that just came
out. What I know about it comes from trailers and critical opinion. That
being said…
This one is a long a time coming my friends, and this is a great time
to do it being Halloween and all. I talked about Lex Luthor’s live
versions a long while back, and if there is any DC villain bigger and
more popular than Luthor it’s Joker. The Joker is the perfect enemy for
Batman, since Joker is all about chaos and anarchy. Joker has evolved
over the decades, going from silly in The Sliver Age to playfully
psychotic in the Bronze Age to just plain sadistic in more modern times.
And as you can imagine, he has been brought to life several times in
TV, movies, and animation.
So since the new movie has come out I figured it would be fun to
finally run down the actor’s who have brought the Clown Prince of Crime
to life. Here is a run down of The Joker in media. This is not a “top
10” list, because there’s no point, just an overview. No cameos, just
full on screen appearances and yes I know I’ll be leaving a lot off with
all his video game and direct to dvd appearances out there.
Cesar Romero (Batman TV show)
I’ve said before that Romero’s take is under appreciated. He really
put his all in it and made the character popular again (he had faded in
the comics). Who doesn’t know that iconic laugh? There are two big
problems with this Joker. One is unavoidable, that Joker is not a
killer. No on one this show is. The other is there nothing persona;
between him and Batman. In the show he is just another one of Batman’s
wacky villains, which kind of hurts the character. In fact in the Batman
movie Joker basically becomes a henchman for Penguin, though still
getting in a few good lines.
So
a few weeks ago I talked about network promo’s for their shows that air
during other shows. Another example of a promo that I did not discuss
is one that has been around forever. That’s when a promo for the next
episode of the same show airs at the end of the current episode, usually
before the closing credits. These “Scene from next week” are brief but
almost always suck us in amd ensure we come back. Sitcoms hardly ever do
this (Growing Pains and Big Bang Theory being two exceptions). But one
hour shows, drama’s and action series, always seem to do this. And one
franchise that is certainly not exempt is….
Now of course with the hundreds of hours of Trek out there, I can’t
go over all of these today. But I thought it might be fun to check a few
out. These promo’s can be memorable when done well, ensuring we come
back the next week, and laughable when they have to lie to make the next
episode sound worth watching. For instance, I came across the preview
for “Half a Life” from TNG. This is a hard episode to summarize, but
essentially Laxwana Troi meets a scientist who is turning sixty. At that
time he is to commit suicide, as is the way of his people when anyone
turns 60. And of course there isn’t much Laxwana or Picard can do. It’s a
well written piece concerning if old people should be allowed to end
their lives with dignity. Here’s the promo:
The ad makes it sound like the scientist has been sentenced to
death for some reason, the very frst words are a lie he isn’t dying, and
it’s up to Picard to save him! Trust me, that is not the episode!
Well
I guess it’s mid life crisis time. Well ok that may be a little far.
With all the recent talk about things turning 50, it’s pretty impressive
everything that turns 30 this year. And I really can’t believe that
1989 was thirty years ago. Good lord, were things different then.
It’s only fair to go through and discuss some other things that are
thirty this year. Aside from The Simpsons and TGIF which I have already
discussed. By the way, Family Matter is officially thirty this year.
Saved By The Bell
This is one of those shows that came along at just the right time.
It was the absolute perfect age for it, and ate it up with a spoon. It
was silly, it was corny..and I loved it. Especially the early years
before the show tried to hard to appeal to teens. We all know the
premise, it’s basically a show about six high schoolers at Bayside High.
Zach, Screech, Slater, Kelly, Jesse, and Lisa were cool and retro all
the same time. I still remember the first episode I saw, NBC aired it
during a weeknight to tease viewers, and I was a fan ever since.
I’ve
talked about ways to promote new movies, posters and of course
theatrical trailers, but what about TV shows? TV shows have an advantage
to movies in that that when a series is a success it kinda sells
itself. Word of mouth, or a good time slot, will bring people in. But
that doesn’t mean there aren’t ads. I discussed way back when about how
TV Guide would have awesome ads in their issues.
But another way to
advertise a show is the classic promo. Promo’s are little ads for the shows which run during other shows and
get you to watch. And while they are almost never memorable like a good
movie trailer, there’s only so much you can do in fifteen-thirty seconds, if a
good promo does it’s job correctly you want to tune in and see what's coming up next, in a dew days, or even the following fall season. So Lets take a look at some examples of network promo's trying to tell you that a certain show is on, changing time's, or is due in the fall!
It’s especially funny to look back at promo’s trying to sell a series
that would not only be a hit, but be a massive hit. To see an old ad
struggling to sell a series which today is loved and adored by millions
is always kinda amusing.
Even when I was a kid, Star Trek was already an
icon. And it still baffles me that the show had normal promo’s like any
show. It just feels odd, didn’t they know that Star Trek was more than a
simple TV show? But like any shows it had to advertise when it came and
thanks to YouTube we can see some of these.This one is all kinds of laughable today. No mention of the well
written stories, or the great characters. We just get Captain and
Kirk and the Vulcanian Spock (thank god the term Vulcanian didn’t last) and
apparently all the show is weird action on strange planets. Oh and
color, of course.
This one is a favorite of mine. Get the feeling William Shatner did this under duress?
One
thing that soap opera’s own is that habit of taking a baby or young
child and rapidly aging them, sometimes over an episode! I guess it is
easier to deal with a child who can read and understand how to act
rather than trying to work with babies (and the strict limitations
around them). Soap Opera Digest is the first to give the the name Rapid
Aging Syndrome, as it’s also known on Tv Tropes. But the truth is this
isn’t limited to soap opera’s. Sitcoms also do this, with mixed results.
So let’s run down ten examples of a baby cast member being aged over a
season, and see if the decision was for the best… or the worst. Of
course, all opinion here.
Family Ties
This is one I remember because it was the first time I had ever heard
of this happening on any show. When Brian Bonsall first appeared as
Andy, I was very confused. Did the toddler really age that fast? Or did
the whole series jump five years between seasons? But I guess I was just
overthinking it. And while Bonsall was not the greatest actor, the
character did add something to the show which helped it as the series
went into its final years. He never took over as others did.
I can hardly think of a character that has more fan
love than Batman. Oh sure the Marvel movies are getting there but that’s
been in the last ten years or so. And Mickey Mouse has been around
longer but I think it’s more the kids who get excited about that.
Superman is more iconic but not as loved. Batman is loved by everyone,
whether your a kid playing toys or an adult who just loves to cosplay.
Let’s discuss:
I just had to cover the merchandise he has spawned, even if I have to
approach this article a little differently than before. That’s because
unlike Star Trek, Mickey Mouse and Garfield; Batman has changed a lot
over the years. And of course every iteration has new products. In fact
Batmania has been around for over fifty years. Now, why just fifty when
Batman is approaching his 80th anniversary? Well…let me tell you a story
about a little TV show….
William Dozier was brought on board for a proposed Batman series and,
after reading the comics at the time, decided camp and silly was the
way to go. They cast Adam Ward and Bert Ward, and the rest is history.
AND PEOPLE WENT NUTS. While Star Trek, which premiered at the same time,
took some time to really find its audience Batman was an instant smash.
It was broadcast twice a week, with a cliffhanger separating the two,
and kids ate it up. This show was one of the biggest things in the 60’s
and was such a hit that celebrities lined up to make appearances. Some
as villains, others as “window cameos”. Adam West was the perfect
straight man and as I’ve talked about before, the villains were so
fantastic that they’re still remembered. I discovered this show in
re-runs, obviously, and couldn’t help but love the fun of it. This show
was a bonanza and saved Batman, because in the comics the character was
kind of starting to fade. I also give the show credit for rejuvenating
the popularity of his villains especially The Joker.
I
talked earlier this year about how a TV show opening will be kind of
lousy in a show’s early years. So lousy it gets chucked and replaced.
Some shows never change their opening, it’s the same year after year.
And then there’s that third category of TV show opening, when the
opening music and even some of the visuals remains the same, but evolves
as the show progresses. Maybe the music is jazzed up a bit or the
graphics improved, but it’s not a replacement as much as an improvement
to what had been. For example, The Brady Bunch was basically the same
opening every year but the music was re-recorded as the kids grew and
they updated the visuals to reflect the fact the kids were growing.
You
can see this in Friends, Saved By The Bell, and countless other shows
where it was the same opening they just replaced some of the clips.
Some shows do a little more than simply replace the visuals however.
Here are a few examples of what I mean, TV openings that weren’t changed
because they sucked as much as they took an opening theme that was just
fine and improved on it to evolve with the show.
A Different World
This is one of my favorite examples. This was of course The Cosby
spin-off starring Lisa Bonet (at first). Here is the Season 1 version:
Pretty..awful. It really looks like “The Denise Huxtable Show”, which
I guess is what it was at first. Thankfully when Debbie Allen came in
she retooled everything, even the theme. So we got the same theme,
re-sung, with this interesting concept:
This was sooo much better. The same song but it gave the feeling it
was more of an ensemble show than the other opening did. It got a couple
minor tweaks until the final season when it was revamped with a jazzier
theme (sang by Boyz II Men) and was a lot faster. No disrespect to
Aretha Franklin of course who turned that boring theme from Season 1
into something memorable.
Oh and yes, that is Jada Pinkett, Cree Summer and Ajai Sanders in the 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.
Star Wars is awesome!! It’s truly amazing how much a part of pop
culture this franchise is. Especially considering it’s not really that
old. Well, compared to others anyway. It’s such a part of pop culture it
only makes sense that references and homages find there way into movies
and TV that have NOTHING to do with Star Wars at all. For instance, Toy
Story 2 is about as removed from Star Wars as you can get but that
doesn’t stop them from referencing it especially since Emperor Zurg is
sort of a Darth Vader knock off:
That’s what I wanted to go thru today. These aren’t little Easter
eggs you can barely see, but scenes referencing lines and characters
from the movie all the way to flat out homages and parodies! It was
supposed to be just ten but..yeah, right. To be honest this list almost
ballooned out of control! Let’s begin, in no particular order :
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
This may be the most out there one. During the movie we cut to a
scene showing what the garage guys were doing to Cameron’s car. They
needed a big fanfare in this scene. What did they choose? What else!!!
Continuing
my look at Garfield’s 40th birthday and there is only one more thing to
really discuss. And that is all the merchandise and commercials the cat
has been in. Garfield was a merchandising machine. In fact there’s a
while company devoted to it called Paws. In 40 years Garfield has become
a major part of pop culture.
He has appeared in everything from Happy
Meal’s
to amusement parks (where he has roller coasters named after him)
and yes even being a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade (several times). .
In fact Garfield is such a pop culture phenomenon that one of the biggest phenomenons o the 1980’s was this :
Yep, no joke. This plush Garfield “stuck on you” was accidentally
made for car’s and people adored them. So much that the company couldn’t
keep up with the demand!! These were all over place and the image has
been homaged to death.
Though to be honest, I am not sure how safe it is to have a something
blocking a portion of your back window. Still, it’s GARFIELD!!!! These were so popular in fact that there were reports of people vandalizing cars just to get their hands on the plush toy. Check
this ad out:
We’ll get back to these ads in a bit.
Garfield has permeated pop culture so much there are references to him all over other media. Here are some quick examples :
A
few weeks ago I mentioned that I couldn’t come up with any
anniversaries this year. Then I realized it was Garfield’s 40th. And
then I realized it was Superman’s 80th. And hey guess who else has a
birthday this year? Yes there’s yet another one later this year for a
certain little mouse. Makes you wonder how much attention I pay to
things when three icons I love have birthday’s this year and I didn’t
realize it.
To be fair there is time for Mickey since he debuted November 18th,
1928. So consider this the start of a special celebration for my
favorite little mouse. In that spirit, I decided to finally do an idea I
have wanted to do for a long time, but never quite came together. If
there is one thing Disney used to do with their anthology TV shows was
have wonderful openings that got your attention and got you excited.
This was back when they had special shows rather than just owning
everything.
Now I am not including any of the specific shows, just the anthology
shows which would feature other shows, cartoons, and old movies (and the
occasional brand new stuff). There are others who are more qualified to
give a specific history of these, this is just for good fun. And they
aren’t all great, like that awful World of Color opening (it’s in color
we get it! Is that all we get for an hour? Color)? Or NBC's "Wonderful World" opening which felt rushed and half assed.
Good Morning Mickey
Ok, picture it. The year was around 1986. It’s early in the morning,
you’re trying to get ready for school, so you put the Disney Channel on.
And what do you see?
Yeah for what was just a collection of old cartoons this opening was
so bright and upbeat in the morning that it kind of helped me to have a
great day.
Hey remember the other day in my Action Comics article when I mentioned this issue:
What I didn’t mention was that this cover is an homage cover, harking all the way back to Superman #1 in 1940!
Comic Book covers are very important, they have to get your attention
and make you want to pick up the mag and buy it. Sometimes however a
cover iwll be so amazing, so memorable, and well rendered that it sparks
homages. This is where the cover is bascially repeated, just with
different art work and characters. These are always really cool to see
and can happen across companies or by the same company, and even artist!
There are literally TONS of these out there but I did some digging
and managed to find a few of my favorites. Here are some fantastic comic
book cover homages:
Superman and The Flash have been racing ever since the Silver Age it
seems, and every time they do the cover almost always evokes the same
image
We talk a lot about things that remind us of movies and TV shows,
from a theme song to a familiar prop or vehicle to even actors with
expressive faces! But one other thing that often doesn’t get mentioned
is wardrobe. Now, I don’t mean costumes or clothing intentionally meant
to emulate a movie or TV show. I mean everyday clothes, which for one
reason or another always makes us think of a character we love. Like how
Hawaiian shirts remind us of Magnum P.I., or those colorful suits worn
by Don Johnson on Miami Vice, or when a Fedora and leather jacket remind
us instantly of Indiana Jones.
I realized while working on this most of these examples involve the
introduction of the character. Funny how a small detail like that can
make the character that much more memorable. Here are some examples :
Sunglasses
I always love our introduction to Marty McFly in Back to the Future.
He is trying to rock out on Doc’s sound system, but a small overload
sends him flying backwards. When he looks up he has those cool
sunglasses on, and I always think of that scene when I do the move Marty
does as he examines the mess he made. Whoa indeed.
So NBC aired a special Sunday night. Celebrating the 90th anniversary
of NBC (including radio). The Paley Center sucks, I always hate their
specials. This one was, not as bad. They did manage to hit almost
everything they should have. But as you may guess there was no way to
get everything in there, and there were some glaring omissions.
It may have been better if they did it by era rather than genre. Lots
of stuff from the old days were overlooked (car 52, Flipper, I Spy) and
the 70’s was kind of blended with the 80’s shortchanging both. I can
understand why mentioning Disney would be awkward but that was a fixture
on NBC for a long time. And If you’re wondering, yes they did mention
The Cosby Show but it was understated. They hardly showed any clips or
mentioned the impact the show had on NBC. And not one image appeared in
the ads for the special, even though The Cosby Show put that network on
the map. But I’ll take what I got, better than nothing.
Sadly a few other shows weren’t so lucky. I understand not mentioning
some shows like TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes (which I loved as a
kid), Amen, Empty Nest, Caroline in the City, Dear John, Blossom…but
they do mention 227? Yeah that got a nod! Don’t get me wrong that show
was OK and I liked it, but…. what? And again I get it, even in three
hours you can’t cover everything. They didn’t even get into movies and
mini-series! Not to mention daytime. But there were some omissions I
just can’t ignore.
So here are a ten great shows that were ignored and deserved at least a passing mention in my opinion :
A Different World
Probably the biggest oversight considered how groundbreaking it was.
Yeah an African American cast was old news but the issues they covered
weren’t. This was one of, if not THE, first sitcom to tackle AIDS. Hope
it wasn’t overlooked because of the Cosby connection, because that’s not
fair.
