Multiple Choice

GREATEST TV SHOW?

OR GREATEST TV SHOW EVER?

Brisco and Lord Bowler got trouble in The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993)

CSI Sneak Peek

In a fashion similar to how other television shows do "cross-overs" from one franchise to another (example: Eureka and Warehouse 13, House and NCIS, etc) to spike ratings, police procedural drama CSI and popular cable cooking show Cake Teamsters have also joined forces in an effort to bring more viewers to the television. The cross-over event will be featured in the new season of CSI in place of the usual teaser that primes the viewer before the opening credits.

As described on the official CSI fan forum:

With Ray Langston (Laurence Fishburne) in critical condition from the cliffhanger events of last season the CSI squad reaches out to former boss Gil Grissom (William Petersen) to assist during a baffling mystery. To welcome him back to the team nerdy and annoying lab tech David Hodges (Wallace Langham) commissions a very special cake from none other than the chef and star of his own reality-based show "Big" Joey Vandolin of Cake Teamsters. As loyal viewers are aware "Big" Joey is given an "impossible task" each episode to create and deliver a custom-designed cake all while under the pressure of a ticking countdown and the sometimes zany and questionably helpful assistance of his well-meaning family, friends and bakery team.

In a montage of frantic cake baking and the carving of sheets of sugary fondant Carmine gets the CSI-themed cake done and delivered before the clock runs out. Grissom, however, is less than enthused as these exclusive sneak peek screen shots from the CSI website reveals.

CSI is all about the epithelials. Those chefs never wear gloves. Ever consider how much hair and skin is in those cakes they create?

Risking my expletive deleted

Noticed while watching the awesome Breaking Bad last night that even the most innocuous word used as a swear was censored for the closed captioning but the audio remained raw and unedited.

Kind of funny since the opposite usually occurs when shows or movies that are heavily dubbed for content for a broadcast somehow usually fail to go to the expense of going back and editing the captioning. There have even been instances where a entertainment or news show will be showing a clip in the background and the clips' captioning while override that of the main show. It was really only disconcerting once when a news story about porn accidentally being broadcast during a prime time network slot showed a steady stream of closed captioning describing in detail the otherwise heavily-pixelated scene playing on the overlay adjacent to the newscaster.

Yes, some pornographic films are closed captioned. Yes, that's freaking stupid as decaf coffee.

Earth to the Moon

I can't recall what episode of the early-1970s British television show UFO this scene is from but I really want that map detailing the flight path of objects between the earth and the moon. I don't know if the map is representative of actual space flights or was made specially as a background prop revealing SHADO operations but it would be cool either way.

Money to burn

Pictured here is the front and reverse of one of the faux bills used when filming a scene of the 1992-1997 syndicated television show Renegade. This show was mostly filmed in and around San Diego, California. As far as I can tell it was left behind as litter after filming the episode Ransom that originally aired on December 6, 1996.

A vacant book store on C Street in downtown San Diego was used to film the episode, which was about a series of bank robberies. Apparently the script called for an explosion of some sort to take place. I have never watched an episode of Renegade so I can't tell if explosions were a common occurrence but I suspect they were. When the bank inevitably exploded faux money and other movie magic debris was blown out onto the street providing, I assume, a scene where the bad guy watched his cash go up in flames while Lorenzo Lamas and his sidekick high-fived each other. While the crew did a decent job of cleaning up the area after the shoot completed a large number of these bills where dispersed through the air over the vicinity. I found the bill pictured above on B Street while coming to work the morning after the television shoot, a neat little piece of San Diego movie history.

On a side note it was interesting to observe people fight each other as they discovered a bill fluttering past them on the street. I imagine there was a short though brisk market for them as street-predators sold the fake bills to to an addled or unsuspecting victim for pennies on the dollar. Knowing cashiers as I do I also speculate that more than a few of the movie bills were successfully used in transactions at local businesses.

The Last Dinosaur

Once you get past the hilariously awful opening scene there's a tune performed by song stylist Nancy Wilson to be heard. It is likewise terrible 70s cheese but that is not due to any fault of Nancy, who was professional enough to make sure she put some of her wild talent into even the poorest source material. A canceled United States theatrical release, The Last Dinosaur was edited down for the time allotted by the network and premiered as an ABC television movie in February of 1977.

Specism

Why didn't the chimpanzee rate a utility belt? He was the chief science officer.

ARK II cast from Starlog #8 (September 1977).

The Question Must Be Asked: Is Our Children Watching?

I have only ever seen this rare Wally Wood illustration for an article about Saturday morning television as a poor-register photocopy in books and old fanzines. I liked it enough to snag a pristine copy for myself and scan the art and the article. The art is classic Wally Wood and enjoyably cartoonish. The resolute and unafraid Mouse standing his ground against a tidal wave of Super-Heroes is a great sight-gag. The article is one typical of the era though a bit late in coming. It is from the perspective of the generation that is just beginning to become aware what the teens and college students already knew for several years, that comic books were not for children anymore.

Click the picture to give yourself some giant Wood.

The accompanying article complains mostly about the violence in the new generation of cartoons featuring the "weirdies", the Super-Heroes. While the piece does mention both sides of the argument about the effects of violence on children it comes down in favor of the classic and presumably more kid-friendly characters from animation. The author seems to have forgotten how incredibly violent the old cartoons were. They were astonishingly brutal even with the heavy editing that was performed prior to network broadcast to ensure all the explosions and maiming of bunnies at the hands of crazed opera singers were not shown and all the horror occurred between scenes or off-screen.

Additionally, the heroes practiced a morality that the funny animal characters never did. More often than not the anthropomorphic critters are portrayed as amoral, homicidal manipulators and every bit as immoral as the villains the super-heroes battle. At the time of this article some groups may have been of the opinion that a rodent setting off a stick of dynamite in a cat's mouth in order to steal a piece of cheese was harmless, but using a fist made of stone to stop Dr. Doom from conquering the planet was irredeemably damaging to the psyche of children.

Here is the entire hand-wringing article:

TV Guide ( March 23-29 1968).

THIS IS WHY TELEVISION WAS INVENTED

TIME-TRAVELING DINOSAUR VS. HELICOPTER

Primeval (Series 3, Episode 18).

Space: 1999

From the team that brought us UFO comes the science fiction classic Space: 1999, exploring the adventures of the crew of a moon base, stranded on site when the moon was blasted into deep space by an atomic explosion. This two year British import featured the real world husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, most familiar to American audiences as having been featured in the Mission: Impossible television series from 1966 t0 1969.

The title sequences from the first year of Space:1999 are cool. It always featured groovy noise and the best FX money could buy in 1975. Due to editing, each opening sequence was marginally different and unique. Not only did the sequence inform viewers how the moon was thrown out of Earth orbit but also included a mini-preview of the upcoming episode. Today the preview would be considered a 'spoiler' but back in 1975 it was a tease, a taste of awesomeness to come. The second season title sequence in my opinion is actually kind of inferior and the music far more jarring to the ear. Yes, I had the Space: 1999 toys.

Enjoy!

Space: 1999 - Breakaway. Originally aired on 17 November 1975.

UFO (September 1970)

Don't just stand there

Space: 1999 - Breakaway (17 October 1975).

Steely Gaze

Col. White of the television series Captain Scarlet (1967).

Gods of the Puppets

TRITTSYC TBBT

The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite "fish out of water" shows. The nerdy, strange character of Sheldon has quickly become the primary focus of the show as each episode spotlights his increasingly bizarre behavior.

I don't know how long the stories can continue by spending all their time on Sheldon as his actions can get annoying very fast. Each episode tries to top the previous one in strange personality quirks, but he is clearly the stand out character of the group. The writers are on something of a roll so lets see how long it lasts.

One of the pluses of the show is the "Sam and Diane" situation was dealt with fairly quickly between the very distracting Penny and hapless Leonard (who as an adult still has not accepted his innate outcastiness). I usually find something to laugh at in every episode.

But geek humor can be infuriating, particularly when the writers get it wrong or wield it with sledgehammer subtlety. I can't help but think if Sheldon Cooper was a true comic book fan he would be wearing a TRITTSYC t-shirt. I was this close to having one made and sending it to the producers in the hope that the actor would wear it in an episode but I realized I wasn't hopeless and insane and stopped myself.

Also I don't know his size.

Happy Father's Day for 2008!

Out with the family for Dad's Very Special Day with me being the honored guest. Don't know yet if we are dining at home, Trailer Trash Buffet or Fondue Fusion & Bistro (Awww..Who's got the crappiest and most annoying website interface ever? Yes, you do!). I'm leaning for the fondue joint as it has less homeless winos camping out at the tables while nursing a slice of bread all day long and doesn't serve as a make-shift day care center for out of control and poorly-behaved kiddies.

Then again, y'know...Fondue. I already lived through the 70s once and have no real desire to visit it again in real life except for those outstanding Marvel comic books and Haley Mills films.


Outer Limits television show ad from Congo Bill #4 (January 2000).

Stargate: M*A*S*H-lantis

For those too young to have seen the show in it's first run, M*A*S*H was a powerhouse of Thursday television night for over 11 seasons, based on the hit movie of the same name. The show was a dramatic comedy about the staff of a mobile army field hospital in Korea during the 1950s. The show exposed the sometimes ridiculous and more often terrible effects of war. While set during the Korean conflict, the film and television show is considered by many to be an allegory for the Vietnam war, which was fresh in the public consciousness during the life of the show. The show is still being broadcast in syndication and is available for purchase on DVD. "Dreams" was an episode of that seminal television show that was initially broadcast on February 18, 1980. It was generally well-received for it's anti-war message and is fondly remembered by fan of the show for it's stark emotional portrayal and the effects of the conflict on people, both military and civilian. In "Dreams", the hospital staff endure various nightmares as they attempt to come to grips with the horrors of war and the traumatic disruptions to their personal lives and psyches. M*A*S*H was not the first to explore this plot device and was not the last, as it is a handy way to explore characterization and give depth to a story. The "Nightmare" plot is one of several common and easy story devices used over a wide range of media. Many examples can be found to have been utilized time and again over the years in various print, comic book, movie and television stories. Another familiar story device is that of enemies being locked or trapped someplace together, who later come to a grudging understanding of each other, though usually the status quo of their mutual enmity returns by the following episode or chapter. The recycling of the "Nightmare" plot was baldly evidenced in the October 19, 2007 episode of Stargate: Atlantis, "Doppelganger". Stargate: Atlantis is not the most original show, being somewhat derivative of the final seasons of Earth: Final Conflict given the similarities of the predatory villains. But I like the various Stargate series and SG: Atlantis it has a sense of humor about it in the Been there, Done that portrayal of recent addition Amanda Tapping to the show as Colonel Sam Carter. What is most disappointing as a fan is that the recent episode of SG:A is unoriginal and very similar to the M*A*S*H "Dreams" episode from start to finish. Several of the dream sequences were even in similar settings (namely, the water sequences of Nurse Margaret O'Hoolihan and Scientist Rodney McKay and the military personnel in a hospital setting). The episodes are similar enough that one could easily label it a direct rip-off and even though the basic premise of each show is similar (military personnel in a foreign setting), and it was clearly inspired by the M*A*S*H episode. It would be too charitable to call this episode of SG:A an homage to the war drama. I prefer my Science Fiction to be a bit fresher in practice and this episode came off as formulaic at best. If you have the means to do so and a little time I urge you to watch the two episodes in their entirety for the geek of it.