Random Thoughts-Is It Ok To Still Like “The Cosby Show”?

Yeah I wont lie, I was one of those who did not want to believe the truth about Bill Cosby. Not because I think sexual assault or the like should be ignored or not taken seriously. But because I have been a fan of his for years, since before The Cosby Show (anyone remember Picture Pages?) so it was hard to accept. Not to mention the large number of accusers which is just, amazing. But a conviction is a conviction and while that number of accusers still seems large, you can’t deny the facts.

 

 

20 Sitcom Homes That Really Exist

So I spent two days talking about the famous interiors of famous sitcom homes. What about the exteriors? Oh yeah, you knew we’d get here eventually! Those establishing shots which give the home or apartment for our favorite sitcoms are very famous. There are even tours that will take you to them (and sadly I have never done one of them!).

Here are some of them. I decided to focus on the real life structures and not the shows which used homes on their studio backlots. So no Bewitched or Growing Pains, for example. And I tried to pick pictures from the actual series but as we’ll see not all are. Also like the other articles no in depth analysis on the architecture or stuff like floor plans, I’m just a fan.





Happy Days

I never really got why the Happy Days was so iconic since the establishing shots go by so fast we barely see the house. They’re also tight close ups probably to hide the fact the house isn’t in Milwaukee but Beverly Hills. Then I dug a bit and realized that in the early days especially we did see more of the house, and I’ve come to the conclusion I really need to watch these episodes again someday.

20 Notable Sitcom Kitchen’s

So yesterday I did living rooms, it was only fair to discuss popular sitcom kitchens next. And as you may imagine, pictures were even harder to find!

 

Kitchens in sitcoms can be an important room. On TV, these rooms are more than just places for the characters to eat. These rooms are often where the characters share what is going in with their lives, and in some shows we spend more time in the kitchen’s than any other room! Here are fifteen sitcom kitchens which despite their differences in size and decor, are integral parts of their respective shows.

 

Cosby Show

The Huxtable kitchen was always a great place, Cliff loves to cook and it kind of shows in the decor. But why was it pink? It would finally get changed in the final season. And yes I know the cast is in the pic best I could do. We'll have a few more too.

20 Notable Sitcom Living Room’s

My friends, this one is so long overdue I can’t believe I haven’t done it yet. The reason is, to my surprise, finding pictures for this hasn’t been as easy as you’d expect. Especially when looking for pictures of the set empty of any actors. You’d think there’d be a ton!

 

As you know I love sitcoms, well that includes the sets for the homes and other locales these shows had their activity in. Today I wanted to discuss on just living rooms. And people often don’t notice all the detail these sets have. Here are twenty of my favorite sitcom living rooms, and don’t expect any in depth analysis on the decor. I’m no decorator and am not very smart about that. I am just a fan.

Three’s Company

I always liked this apartment because it felt very “LA” to me. And who in the world has doors like that?

Random Thoughts-70th Emmy Awards

Almost eight years ago to the day one of my earliest blog's was a short piece on the Emmy's. And really it just sounds like me doing Linkara's Superboy prime voice saying "Everything was better in my day!!". I even make a crack about HBO asking how many people really watch stuff on there. Uh, quite a few! Game of Thrones anyone? The simple fact is that times change and while I love nostalgia (duh) that doesn't mean I can't accept that things are different. With HBO, Netflix, Amazon, and whatever else it's just a different world today.

So I watched the 70th Emmy's last night and was disappointed. There was hardly any real "celebrating". Maybe anniversaries were a bigger deal in my day (there I go again) but I would have liked more of a celebration of what has come before. All we got was Betty White (which was awesome) and a short montage which lasted about three minutes. No clips or callbacks? What did we get instead? All sorts of diversity stuff which I am soooo sick of. Can we stop being upset that there "weren't enough" of a certain race or gender nominated for something? It's one thing to say they should have opportunities. Of course they should! Everyone no matter their race, gender, or sexual preference should have the same opportunities as everyone else. No brainer. But The Emmy's, and all awards shows, are meant to reflect the best in something. If actor Bill Smith is the better actor he should win! If he's a white guy, hey that's how it goes. I get so tired of this idea that if it's anyone but a white person it's "racist" or "offensive". How?  The topic went on forever, with the opening number (which just plain sucked) and then the monologue. The one sketch we got was more on black people not getting their just deserves. Ok it was nice to see those old TV stars again, that was literally it for that in the show, but by then it was like WE GOT IT!

Five Replacement TV Themes That Sucked

Continuing my unintentional theme this months on TV theme’s! I talked before about how a show will begin with an awful theme, and then replace it with one which is not only better but far better. So better you forget that awful one ever happened. Well, it can go the other way too. Sometimes for a show’s final season the creators will change up the familiar and popular theme, with one that isn’t. And I don’t mean changing the images or altering the length of the song. I mean re-recording a new version of the opening song, or a totally new song altogether, and it’s just awful.

Of course this often works fine. Like the evolving “Boy Meets World” theme’s which were always good, or “Alf”‘s jazzier theme in its later years, and of course changing up the song didn’t hurt “A Different World” any. But not all are so lucky.


Here are five examples of what I mean. And again, just opinion. If you love these versions of these shows openings then more power to you. I did not.’



Growing Pains
For some reason I will never understand around the season 7 it was decided to re-record the theme. BJ Thomas wrote and sung “As Long as we’ve Got Each Other ” and it was great, he even released it as a single. The new version? Some kind of acapalla version which is so awful. It’s slow and I hated it instantly. At least this clip is before Leonardo Dicaprio is painfully forced onto the series. Ugh.

Top 10 Miller/Boyett TV Show Openings

Awhile back I talked about the Miller/Boyett production company. Helmed by Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett they produced a ton of memorable shows in the 80’s and 90’s. There’s actually a lot to this story, including when it was Miller-Milkis, but I wont bore you with a history lesson. Suffice to say they produced shows we still love and remember today. And all of these shows had clever, memorable theme songs.

We all know these theme songs. They are silly, corny, totally 80’s…and I love them!!!! Seriously I wish they still made TV shows and theme songs like this. These shows, mostly, were a big part of TGIF being successful for ABC because they were so family friendly but still watchable. So I thought it would be fun to go through and rank these themes, from the most grating to the most pleasing. In order to make it ten I am including the less popular shows. And I decided to ignore the Milkis era, leaving off gems like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. This is strictly the Miller/Boyett shows which began around 1986.





#10.The Family Man
Never heard of it? There’s a reason. This show was pretty quickly forgotten, and it was bad right from the theme music. It’s as if they said “let’s just do what Full House did, with lamer Boy Meets World style music”. Gregory Harrison starred and it was about a family…and that was it. No hook at all. The short instrumental tune was done by Jesse Frederick and, well, we’ll be talking a lot more about him. And yes, instrumental. As in no lyrics just awful elevayor music.