Five Daytime TV Pioneers

A lot of people don’t take daytime TV very seriously. It’s kind of gotten a bad rep as nothing but soap opera’s for old ladies and shows offering nothing worth watching. But a lot of daytime TV does stand out and even matches up with prime time fare. I talked before about how game shows were all over the place once upon a time, but of course we also have talk shows, court shows, soap opera’s and the ever reliable news programs. Ans some of these shows and hosts have elevated daytime TV with their presence, and are just as popular and admired as anyone one prime time.

Here are five people who pioneered daytime TV








Phil Donahue

When it comes to talk shows, Donahue was the grand master. I don’t think he originated the concept but he certainly popularized it. The list of people who tried to imitate his success goes on forever. Sally Jesse, Geraldo, Joan Rivers, Jerry Springer, Riki Lake..on and on and on. Including a bunch of names we’ve all forgotten (who remembers Jenny Jones?). His style was simple but effective, easily impersonated but still respected. He could be serious one minute and light hearted the next. And he also introduced the idea of taking calls which I don’t think many do, back then or today.

Top 5 Favorite Movie Ghosts

Well here we are now less than two weeks from Halloween, time for a Halloween article or two. Before zombies and vampires, ghosts were the huge thing. Ghosts are always fascinating because they don’t have to be evil or mean.  Heck, they can be normal people who just can’t leave the Earth. On the other hand they can be nasty creatures who seek to torment you. Here are five of my favorite ghosts from movies.

#5.Jacob Marley

Yeah I feel funny about this one, to me this is a Christmas story. But you can’t deny the supernatural element. I mean, they are called the ghosts of Christmas! So I guess it counts. Jacob Marley is singled out because, no matter what version it is, he is always the quintessential ghost. He is a ghastly site with his chains and does what any good ghost should–scare the crap out of Scrooge!







#4.Casper

Ok he was a cartoon first but he’s been in a few movies so he counts. Casper is the friendly ghost..and I was never really been a big fan. The problem with him being so nice and kind is he’s not much of a character. He needs other ghosts around him to be interesting, because bu himself he’s kinda dull. I saw his first movie and it wasn’t bad.

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”
\
 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 6 Favorite Scores from Danny Elfman

So my look at movie composers continues with Danny Elfman. He’s done a bunch of movie and TV work, of course a lot of it was for Tim Burton. Course the big question you probably have is, why only 6??? I really couldn’t find 4 more??? Honestly I am not the biggest fan of his stuff. It just sounds so repetitive, and unlike the other composers I discussed the movies that I’ve seen that he worked on is not long. Not to diminish his amazing talent or wide range of work.

But I do like some of it, so here we go :




#6.Mission:Impossible
How do you take a catchy yet bland TV theme and make it rock? Ask Danny Elfman who turned that simple theme into this metal tune. The movie was awful and confusing, but damn that theme rocks!!

Top 5 Live Action Lex Luthor’s

 

Lex Luthor has always been an awesome villain. Just as Joker is the perfect foil for Batman, Luthor is the perfect foil for Superman. He is metaphorically as powerful as Superman but uses his powers for his own agenda. Though in the comics it didn’t start that way. For years he was just a mad scientist with another crazy robot every week, wearing a silly purple “power suit”. Eventually they tried to give him more, and it got kind of silly. This was in the 70’s and early 80’s when EVERYTHING had to have a sci fi slant. So Luthor would somehow become ruler of his own planet, that was named after him, and have a wife and child until all of them were killed (huh?) which led into the war suit era. The war suit was a cool design but it didn’t change the fact that the character was just another crazy villain out to kill Superman.

 

Enter John Byrne & Marv Wolfman in 1986 who finally gave us the opponent I think most of us are familiar with. A conniving business man who only cares for himself. He uses people and tosses them away, and of course he finds Superman a threat.There were many things that would stick with this version, like Luthor using a kryptonite ring to keep Superman at bay. Eventually (and long story short) he would have to get a new cloned body, with an Australian accent, before getting a new human body back. It’s a verryyy long story.

 

After that he kind of switches back and forth from scientist to business man. Of course the comics have evolved, Luthor was even president for a time (imagine, a crazy billionaire as president!) with the war suit even coming back into canon. It disappeared after the Byrne relaunch aside from a clever gag in “The Man of Steel” mini series.  I am not really familiar with Luthor today except from what I’ve seen he seems to be a blend of the silver age mad scientist and more modern business man. He’s even joined the JLA, someone care to explain that one? 

 

Comics and cartoons are one thing. but what about the live action versions? There haven’t been that many, but of the few who captured the spirit of the character the best? The reason I am focused only on the live action versions is because there have been a ton of animated version, most of which I never saw. And my heart will always be with the Superfriend’s version. Stan Jones had the role down. He just got the character and that voice was so awesome it’s still the voice I hear in my head when I read a comic.

So after that long intro, here are my top five live action Luthor’s. Well, six.   You’ll see….



#6.Sherman Howard (Superboy)


I knew some people were going to kill me for leaving out Scott James Wells and Sherman Howard who played Luthor from the old Superboy TV show (the 80’s one). But I never watched it, and when I saw a clip it was stupid. The actor did NOTHING with the character! Course that’s from a one minute clip so maybe that’s unfair. Looks like the character was based more on the silver age “mad scientist” era which is fine but then you deal with the same problem the comics had in that era. Namely, Luthor was just a one note mad scientist with nothing interesting abut him. Maybe I’m wrong and i should check it out but it seemed silly to me.

Top 5 Worst Live Action Movies Based on Cartoons

It seems like such a simple concept, take a cartoon and make it live action. All you have to do is have actual actors and viola, no problem! Right? Well it sure doesn’t seem to work out that way most of the time. I mean some get it, like Transformers. Yeah those movies are from perfect but the give what they promise. And I don’t think G.I.Joe was THAT bad. When I watched the first Alvin and the Chipmunks it felt like Alvin and the Chipmunks. And then there’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and while they may vary in quality none of them are truly awful.

However some are not so lucky. Some are so far off the mark that they aren't just bad, they piss the fans of the source material right the hell off! Here are five live action movies based on cartoons which are just awful. And it can be any kind of cartoon from a show to comic strip.






#5.The Flintstones

I saw this when it came out, it was hyped big time, and I can’t deny it. I liked it when I saw it. It was ok, nothing too bad. The characters were on track and it felt like we were watching a live action episode. With one big exception. That idiotic plot! The Flintstones was, at the end of the day, a simple sitcom with sitcom situations. Here we get a money laundering scheme, I think,  with sexual innuendo. Uh, yeah. No! It has the same problem as Mr.Magoo, but with that one the cartoon hardly had a solid premise so you could divert from it. The Flintstones did have a solid premise, and this movie feels way off the mark. Sometimes getting the look down isn’t enough, check out the Speed Racer movie as another example. Or the infamous Robin Williams “Popeye” movie which got the characters down cold (especially Olive Oil) but man was it soooo boring!!!

Top 5 Canine Commercial Mascots

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!

Five Once Popular Actresses Who Faded Away

It’s not easy to make it famous. Sometimes an actor will have to really pay their dues before finally getting a success. Teri Hatcher bounced around all kinds of minor roles before Lois & Clark and of course Desperate Housewives finally made her a name. Lauren Graham had minor roles in virtually every 90’s NBC sitcom, some were supposed to last like NewsRadio but none ever did. Until Gilmore Girls made her a star, and she was great in the Parenthood series which NBC finally ended last year. And Megan Mulally was an unknown face appearing all over the place, until her breakout role as Karen on Will & Grace finally made a star our of her.

But many are not so lucky, and the saddest thing is when they have an opportunity which should lead to amazing things…but doesn’t. Awhile back I talked about how actors get screwed over by typecasting, but sometimes that isn’t even to blame. Not through any faukr of their own, they just never land the right role and kind of fade away.


Here are five examples of actors who have faded away despite the fact they were very popular at one time but just never landed that critical success which would keep their career moving.



Marcy Walker

One of the few soap operas I watched in the late 80’s was Sana Barbara. The hot couple in that show were Cruz and Eden. Eden was played by Marcy Walker. Walker was on fire during that time, she was just super popular as part of the ultra hot couple. But then she made some bad choices. The first was an unsold pilot about lawyers. Then she got cast on a series which did sell, and in fact she left her soap opera to commit to this series. The show was “Palace Guard” and lasted like two episode. It was so boring! Walker went back to soap opera’s but never did get that magic back. She has lately has stopped acting altogether. Oh, and what about Cruz? He was played by A Martinez and honestly he should be on this list too.

Top 5 Star Trek Characters Everyone Hates…Except ME

Star Trek has such a long history with so many different characters, that fans tend to be torn of who their favorites are. And who they think is the most annoying. Usually I agree with the characters found to be annoying. For instance, I never hated Neelix as much as others seem to, but he didn’t thrill me either. Though he does have his fans.  I have never heard anyone try to defend Dr.Pulaski, just a god awful character. And I’ve already discussed Wesley Crusher.


However, as I look over lists of hated characters I have noticed that there some characters that most if not everyone hates, and I can’t understand why. It’s not that these characters are without flaws, but I think that people tend to be a tad hard on them. So, here now are five Star Trek characters that everyone seems hate, but I love them.






Ok, before I even start I am not saying I am the only one who nay like these characters. I am sure they have their fans. It just seems like like the majority do not like them. And that’s OK by the way, just offering my two cents.




#5.Jadzia

Honestly, I needed a DS9 example and this was the best I could come up with. Jake never did anything for me, and I hated Vic Fontaine as much as anyone else. But I do see a lot of people seem to be annoyed by Jadzia. Yeah she could be smug and arrogant, but that was the character. The trill which was a part of her was hundreds of years old, and with that kind of experience you’re bound to have that arrogance. Jadzia was smart and kicked ass, I loved her. Though she did get a bit snarky at times. What about Ezri? Ehhh…..  A lot of people also like to say Keiko O’Brien but she wasn’t on enough to really count her.

Top 5 Favorite Lt.Uhura Moments

This one is loonng overdue my friends! Why? Because I loved Lt.Uhura. I guess I have avoided it because this is hardly a new idea, and the truth is there are no shocks on this list, if you’re as a big a Trek fan as I am anyway.  But last month Nichelle Nichols suffered a minor stroke (she’s doing fine) and it got me thinking it was high time to talk about my favorite character on here.

 

Nichols was a pioneer, being an African American woman to be a regular on a sci fi series. And since I know that someone will mention it if I don’t, she almost left the series too until she met Martin Luther King Jr who pointed out what and influence she had. Women were hardly shown to be in authority at that time, never mind African American Women. And while you could argue that Uhura was shafted here and there (how many time can you say “Hailing Frequencies open”?) when she kicked ass, she really kicked ass! In fact this isn’t just a “top 5″ list, it’s a tribute to one of my favorite actress/characters ever!!

It comes down to this, NONE of the women on Trek would be where they are without Uhura. Not Crusher, not Troi, and not Janeway. And more than that, Nichelle Nichols was just freaking awesome!! She was tough, sexy, and had a very pleasant soft side. She knew how enjoy herself and laugh at things but when she was serious, she didn’t fool around. I loved every scene she was in, even if she wasn’t doing much. People forget that she joined the landing parties, took the helm three times, and was always right in on the excitement. In “Who Mourns for Adonais?” she is seen doing complicated repairs on the communication system, and Spock even compliments her.  In “I, Mudd” she faked out the androids in the episode in a great moment when she claimed she wanted an android body, but it was a clever ruse. In “Bread and Circuses” she provided the last bit of exposition that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy had missed. Don’t believe me? Watch this:

Not on the list because I hate the episode (though as you’ll see that won’t stop me further down) but I wanted to include it anyway.




Heck even in a stupid moment like when she saw and cried over her aged self in “And the Children Shall Lead” or in “The Changeling” she had her memories wiped by Nomad and had to re-learn everything she was still really awesome!


But now here are my favorite of all her moments. And this list is all about Nichelle Nichols, so no examples from Uhura in the new Star Trek movies. Not saying Zoë Saldaña was bad, just not counting them.



#5.The Tholian Web



This is a great episode from the 3rd season. Kirk is trapped in inter space (or whatever) and Tholians are building a giant web. Ok, there is a lot more than that but the best scene comes in a quiet moment. We see Uhura in her quarters, which is a cool moment for several reasons. We hardly ever saw her off duty and relaxing. Suddenly she sees Kirk in her quarters, and knows he’s alive! She is thrilled and runs to share the news. It’s a great moment and Nichelle Nichols herself has said this was one of her favorite scenes. No wonder why.

Top 5 Dumbest (Fake) Game Show Episodes

Just about two years ago (good god time does fly) I did a whole week long look at game shows I loved. One of those articles was discussing when a sitcom will base an episode on a real life game show, with some or all of the character literally appearing on the said game show. These episodes are usually cute and silly and I love them.


In that article I mentioned that sitcoms will often do made up game shows but did not get into that subject. Well, I guess now is as good a time as any. The problem I have with these episodes is very simple-THEY’RE AWFUL!! I don’t know what it is, but every time a sitcom episode is based around a fake game show the episode is a stinker in my opinion. I guess it’s because these episodes seem geared to make the characters stupid and/or huge losers. Want some examples? Well of course!


Here are my top 5 dumbest (fake) game show episodes!!
There are two rules here–it has to be pretending to be a real game show actually airing on TV. For instance, Family Ties did an episode involving a simple PBS quiz show which was made up. But it was harmless and so simple that it would never really air even on PBS. Besides it was a good episode which forever taught me what the acronym SCUBA stood for (and Alex getting cold feet on TV was kind of funny). Also the characters have to actually appear on the show, so for instance that episode of “Friends” with Joey spending an episode rehearsing for an audition to host “Bamboozled” doesn’t count.


Of course this is all just opinion if you love any of these shows more power to you. Oh and yes this concept is not specific to sitcoms, but by now do you really expect me to discuss drama’s? Anyway…..


#5.Night Court, “The Game Show”

This isn’t the worst one ever, but it’s not a great episode. One reason it’s not a great episode is because Judge Stone is mostly absent, replaced with Judge Wilber from “My Two Dads” (yeah, that’s another article altogether!). Long story short, Bull appears on “What am I?”, a game show where the host describes something and the contestant answers “I am a….”. Well you can guess the jokes. Bull is doing OK until he panics when they roll out the clock. It looks like he’s going to lose (he’s playing for a charity he helps with) but gets the answer in time. There is a another part of he story with Dan which would take to long to explain. It’s a weak episode but not the worst because the game show is played mostly straight and the characters are not hurt or made to look stupid. Well Dan kind of is but it’s his own fault, like usual. To bad the same can’t be said for the rest of these.

Top 5 Favorite Sitcom Directors

As hard as it for me to believe after so many blogs on sitcoms I love, I have neglected one area. The folks behind the scenes! After all were would all these wonderful shows be without directors, writers, and other creators? But except for a look at production companies it’s an area I’ve kind of neglected. So today I want to start what will hopefully not be the only article on that topic. First up, five TV directors!



When I was a young the directors didn’t mean anything to me. Kind the same with the writers of comic books. As I got older I learned how important these people are, and how good they can be. As we’ll see many of our hit shows owe them a serious debt of gratitude.


I wanted to focus on directors who are primarily know for their directing and have done more than one or two single episodes.  After all even the actors on the series can direct. I mean Robert Reed directed a couple of episodes of Brady Bunch, Craig T Nelson directed several episodes of Coach, David Schimmer directed episodes of Friends, Kelsey Grammar directed episodes of Frasier, John Ratzenberger directed a few episodes of Cheers, and Jason Alexander even directed an episode of Seinfeld. But I don’t think any of them would put “director” first on their resume.

And no showrunners or producers. Yes I know very often directors also work as creators, producers, writers, etc but the five on this list are being praised solely for their directing.



#5.Debbie Allen
  
This list was turning into a bit of a sausage fest so I wanted to find one woman. But most of the women who work in TV are writers and executive producers, but very few seem to be actual directors. And yes I am sure there are many women directors none came to mind. But I finally found one, and i love her! It’s a bit of a cheat since she is known for other things, but Debbie Allen came in to the only so-so “A Different World” and turned it into a decent series! She has directed all sorts of shows from Fame to Family Ties to Fresh Prince to That’s So Raven to Grey’s Anatomy!

Top 5 Minor Disney Antagonists I Love to Hate

Been awhile since I did a Disney list. We all know the major villains in Disney movies. From Maleficent to Jafar and so on. But the characters that often get overlooked are the minor villains. Those characters who appear briefly, simply to advance the plot or give the villain’s a means to meet their goals. In some cases they don’t advance the plot at all. they’re filler but are so memorable that we never forget them.




Today I wanted to talk about five such minor antagonists who I love to hate, almost more than the main characters despite their minor roles.  The only rule is they have to be characters who did something nasty against our heroes, and weren’t just there for comic relief or to be redeemed later.




5.Lucifer (Cinderella)

 

Yeah I know it’s just a cat, but what a nasty kitty! He seems to know and love how evil that witch stepmother is and loves every second she is making Cinderella’s life miserable. He loves it so much, he makes things worst for her! He goes back and makes a mess out of what she had cleaned, and loves every second of her getting scolded. Lucifer spends the majority of the film getting in the way of Gus and Jacques, and is one who does get a comeuppance of sorts. But that nasty kitty is, well, mean! Hey, what is it with Disney and making their cats evil?

Top 5 Worst Star Trek Character Death Fake-Out’s

Some may remember quite awhile back I did an article on the time’s when Disney “killed” a main character, only to have it be a fake out. The character of course lives. Well, Disney isn’t the only one guilty of this. Star Trek has done it more times than I could count! I was thinking of doing a list of them all, but I’d be here all day. So instead let’s take a look at the one’s that did not work. At all.


When a main character is killed in an episode, you know that it’s not permanent. Unless the actor/actress is leaving the show of course. The death is there for shock value, to show how dangerous the villain is, or even just to pad the episode. And sometimes these death’s are decent scenes and even memorable by serving the plot, advancing the story, and even giving some character growth in rare cases. For instance Scotty dies in the classic episode “The Changeling” but the scene works and Nomad bringing him back is believable and we see just what Nomad is capable of. When Neelix died in Voyager’s “Mortal Coil” not only is his resurrection explained (thanks to Seven of Nine) but the plot is how he’s has major issues dealing with it! It’s one of the better Neelix episodes. And when Picard presumably died in TNG’s “Tapestry” it led to a real good character episode involving Q. There can be all kinds of fake out’s from a dream or fantasy, a hologram, clone, some kind of elaborate deception, or a time travel/alternate history story where the re-set button is pressed.



Sometimes though, the creators can’t come up with a clever way out, and the death is reversed with either a weak as hell excuse or, better yet, no excuse. In some cases it serves such a small part of the show you wonder why the “death” is even in the episode!



Today I present the worst Star Trek death fake out’s. The only rule is this has to be a main character who was pronounced dead and came back to life in the same episode they died in. And the death has to be permanent so no Data, Tripp, Dax, Tasha, or especially Spock’s from TWOK since that wasn’t meant to be a fake out when it happened, and besides it was and still is one of the most moving moments Trek ever produced. And of course this is just my opinion, feel free to disagree.



#5.Chekov in “Spectre of the Gun”

This comes from the episode “Specter of the Gun” which is a decent episode for season 3. The setup is that Morgan Earp catches Chekov with his girl, and basically guns him down. There’s more it than that but that’s the basics. It’s actually a very powerful death scene and handled very well! It isn’t forgotten we see Kirk and crew dealing with it in the next scene. Why do I count it as one of the worst? Because there is no explanation for how and why Chekov is alive again! They just return to the ship, and he’s all alive and well. When I was a kid that confused the hell out of me, and now I still don’t get it. They kind of hint that it was because Chekov didn’t believe what was happening, except the Melkotians made it clear that if they died, they were really dead! Maybe they restored him to life but this is never stated.

Top 6 Favorite Leonard Nimoy Moments (Outside Star Trek)

I was as sad as everyone to hear that Leonard Nimoy passed away. He has been one of my favorite actors/directors for quite awhile. I decided I didn’t want to do a rushed “random thoughts” on it, I needed something more special. So that’s what we have today. I adored his character of Spock in the Star Trek TV series plus all six movies (and the Next Gen episode…and yes the reboot movie too!).





So while I could share posts of Spock’s great moments, the truth is I have done that a lot in other articles. And besides I could do 20 Spock moments and not come close to covering them all.


So I decided the best tribute would be to focus on his other work. His non-Star Trek roles where he showed he really was more than just Mr.Spock. Some he played a character (like in the sitcom Becker) and others he was himself (like when he hosted the Nickelodeon show “Standby:Lights, Camera, Action” which I watched as a kid). Of course he was also a damn good director (Three Men and a Baby) but I am sticking to his on screen/voice work.


Here are my favorite Leonard Nimoy moments outside Star Trek



#6.The Ballad of BilboBaggins


I had to mention this odd project he worked on for some reason, that was a song. Yep, he recorded the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. It’s…curious as Spock would say. But it’s fun to watch Nimoy in his prime having fun. I think that it really sums up the guy as an actor. Not much else to say.

Top 5 Elvis Songs I Just Love–When Not Sung by Elvis!

 

Elvis Presley was the King of Rock and Roll. Not only did he come out with some major hits, he made movies too. Actually he made lots of movies, I didn’t even realize how many until I looked it up (30! No kidding!!). He has been parodied and homaged dozens and dozens of times with people acting and dressing like him and pretending to be him. For years there were Elvis sightings and people still connect him with Las Vegas and flock to his home in Graceland to see where he lived. He sadly passed away in 1977 but left behind and enduring legacy as an icon and is loved and adored by millions…but I am not one of them. 

I never liked his music. I don’t get it, why did women faint at the site of this guy? Don’t get me wrong he was talented and all, but I mostly find his songs annoying. Just something about his voice does not work for me, and I don’t care how much is moves is pelvis. In fact I have found that the only time I love his songs is when someone else sings them. And that’s what I want to discuss today.


Here are five covers of Elvis songs that I prefer over the more familiar and/or classic Elvis version.



#5. In The Ghetto by The Cranberries

I don’t know if this is one his biggest hits but it’s OK when he sings it. But what I really prefer is the cover done by The Cranberries. That soft female voice just works a lot better than Elvis’s. She actually makes the song work for me. Of you want to hear it, here is a clip here. Not sure if this was made for the film “The Outsiders” but the clip has images from that in it. See it HERE

Five Loved Saturday Morning Shows That WEREN'T Cartoons

We’re all sad that there are not more Saturday morning cartoons on anymore. Well, kids today aren’t but those of us  who remember those fantastic days are. Man the memories! I have talked a lot about the cartoons I grew up watching those days, but there were more than cartoons. Sometimes a live action show would get me just as excited as The Muppet Babies or Garfield. Or Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Or The Real Ghostbusters. Or Alvin and The Chipmunks. Or The Smurfs. Or…..what was I talking about?


All kidding aside, today I decided to do a run down of five Saturday Morning shows I loved that were not cartoons. The order is from shows I kind of liked to shows I really loved.




Land of the Lost


Uh, yeah. I watched this. For some reason. I have a brother and sister, can I blame them? Ok I titled this article shows that I loved but that may have been misleading. Because I did not love this show. I will admit to watching it, and finding it pretty silly. Of course I did not see the 70’s version since I was not quite born, but did see the 1991 revival. And what can I say?
It was stupid. But in a fun way. If you don’t know the show was about a family trapped in a parallel universe after after their Jeep Cherokee fell through a time portal while exploring the back country. You’ve stopped reading, haven’t you? This universe had dinosaurs, cavemen, and really corny acting. Did I mention the family lives in a treehouse? This show was just silly!

Five Lame Time Travel Plots (From Various Media)

I love time travel! It’s no coincidence that two of my favorite movies are Star Trek IV and Back to the Future. The idea of being able to travel back to see the past, even change mistakes made, is a fantastic one. Not to say anything about the chance to go ahead and see what our future will be like.

While I love time travel stories, I have to admit that some creators will come up with very….odd plots with time travel.



Now I don’t expect everyone who puts time travel in a story to have an advanced degree in quantum mechanics, and I concede even the best time travel stories require some suspension of disbelief, but some creators seem to lack basic common sense when it comes to how time travel might work. Making things up, or using time travel as a plot device, even if it makes no sense whatsoever.


Here are five examples of what I mean:



Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I know I know, this a kids show and it’s probably not fair to make fun of it. But thanks to my nephew (and being out of work last year) I got see lots of episodes. I love nitpicking the silly plots, but the one that really annoyed was the one where Prof Von Drake builds a time machine. How does it work? Goofy goes through it and is somehow transformed into a baby. No he isn’t swapped with a younger version of himself, he is changed into a baby! Yeah, that’s not what time machines do!!!!! I mean obviously the kids watching wont care but the writers had to have some knowledge of time machines, why not called it a “transmorpher” or some other name that would make a little more sense? Or is the thinking that kids wont know the difference so why even try?

Top 5 Craziest C3PO & R2D2 Appearances

Who doesn’t love C3PO and R2D2? They were the comic relief in the Star Wars movies but were so much fun to watch. Especially R2. I still remember the C3PO action figure I had that came apart (ala Empire Strikes Back). To this day I can hear the clanking noise the parts made when they fell off onto the table. R2D2 was always my favorite to, I loved the way he charged in and saved the day! I know had an R2 toy or clock or something growing up.



I bet you’re thinking this is going to talk about all the great moments of these two from the Star Wars movies.


NOPE!


C3PO and R2D2 were so popular that they were all over the place in TV of the 70′s and 80′s. Don’t believe me? Check this out!



#5.Commercials

I guess it makes sense, if you’re going advertise the movie do it with most likable stars. C3PO and R2D2 have hawked a kinds of stuff. They were in a commercial for the Star Wars toy line. They appeared in an add for a Burger King knock-off in the 70′s. Yes, really. They have done some car commercials overseas. They were in ads for an appliance store named Curry’s. R2D2 introduced the TRS-81 personal computer. They both appeared in an Underoos ad (with Boba Fett!). But the craziest and my favorite? How about C3PO hawking his own cereal? I am almost sure I tried C3PO’s and liked them. The commercial is a classic of the 80′s. Hey that’s not so bad, Darth Vader has done ads for Energizer, Priceline, and Target. Yes I’m serious.

The cereal ad is HERE
The burger ad is HERE