Splinter
Don Corleone
Picard really hates fat kids
Posts: 1,897
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Post by Splinter on Aug 10, 2009 9:59:56 GMT -5
Ok fellow crappers. A controversial character to say the least in the pitiful Russoriffic days of WCW. Oklahoma was a blatant parody of WWE announcer and long time critic of Vince Russo, Jim Ross. Portrayed by Ed Ferarra (who despite being Russo's booking partner doesn't get anywhere near the heat he does) the character was obsessed with BBQ sauce, constantly put over Dr Death Steve Williams (personal friend of JR) and spoke about football careers and generally parodied JR's style of commentary in every way. The part that offended everyone was poking fun at JR's very real illness bells palsy which partially paralysed his face. So my question is would we have less contempt for Russo and the caharacter had he not worked the bells palsy?
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Post by The Tank on Aug 10, 2009 10:03:14 GMT -5
..........................................there's a lot I want to say, but it's too early for a rant.
So, I'm just gonna say no and call it a day.
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Post by eDemento2099 on Aug 10, 2009 14:12:00 GMT -5
Worked? I say Oklahoma 'worked' all along. I thought Oklahoma was a spot-on parody of JR. Ridiculing JR's bells palsy, as the original poster brought up, was the only thing that I would have avoided if I were to parody JR.
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Post by Ultimo Chocula on Aug 10, 2009 14:15:37 GMT -5
No. The entire character was based on blatant mockery of a guy who is very well liked by wrestling fans in a promotion that was an obvious sinking ship.
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Post by vanillainsd on Aug 10, 2009 14:57:02 GMT -5
Have to agree with ED2009. I thought Oklahoma was great. The mocking of JR's ailment was a littlle over the top, but no worse than some of the stuff Vinnie Mac has tried to pull off (rectal exam anyone? Katie Vick?).
I think the thing that hurt it the most was lack of good color commentary...Schiavone was not cout out for that.
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Dave at the Movies
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
VINTAGE D-DAY DAVE! Always cranking dat thing.
Posts: 18,224
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Post by Dave at the Movies on Aug 10, 2009 15:07:30 GMT -5
I'm surprised they go Dr. Death to agree to go along with it.
On that note I think the heel JR in WWF could have worked if they had kept it going. It wasn't that bad.
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Post by tap on Aug 10, 2009 15:15:14 GMT -5
I'm surprised they go Dr. Death to agree to go along with it. On that note I think the heel JR in WWF could have worked if they had kept it going. It wasn't that bad. Ah, I miss the pirate broadcasting days... |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2009 15:47:02 GMT -5
I don't know. Even if it worked, the message I would get from it is that they mocked a talented, idiosyncratic announcer instead of creating one themselves. You could make fun of all of JR's characteristics but at least he had them, as opposed to bland guys like Tony or just plain annoying guys like Mark Madden. Imagine trying to parody Madden: all you had to get was some annoying loud mouth who tried to break kayfabe every thirty seconds. That's it. That's all he had. JR had a hell of a lot more.
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Post by JerryvonKramer on Aug 10, 2009 15:52:08 GMT -5
Second only to the mocking of Arn for downright disgraceful behaviour in my book.
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Post by Youngie on Aug 10, 2009 16:00:58 GMT -5
I LOVED it when Ed Ferarra tried to shake Cornette's hand and Cornette slapped him "that's for JR!".
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Post by HMARK Center on Aug 10, 2009 18:03:10 GMT -5
The Bell's Palsy went too far, but I won't sit here and lie and say I didn't laugh at the character originally.
It went too far and went on too friggin' long, but the first couple times, yes, I chuckled. I mean, c'mon, "VAM-PI-RO! VAM-PI-RO!"
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AriadosMan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Your friendly neighborhood superhero
Posts: 15,620
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Post by AriadosMan on Aug 10, 2009 18:05:03 GMT -5
Even for Attitude-era gimmicks, Oklahoma was very tasteless and would've generated alot of bad publicity if it went on longer than it did.
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Post by eDemento2099 on Aug 10, 2009 21:18:14 GMT -5
No. The entire character was based on blatant mockery... Do you understand what the concept of a 'parody' is? The fact that WCW was in decline when it parodied JR has no bearing on how well JR's obnoxious mannerisms were satirized. |
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Jay Peas 42
El Dandy
Totally flips out ALL the time.
Is looking forward to a Nation of Domination Kwannza Special.
Posts: 8,329 
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Post by Jay Peas 42 on Aug 10, 2009 21:34:09 GMT -5
Love it. Aside from the Bell's Palsy and the Light Heavyweight Title, it's really no different than Huckster and Nacho.
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Post by derrtaysouth95 on Aug 10, 2009 21:37:16 GMT -5
Parodies are good when they stay on the lighthearted side.
When it goes into illnesses that can't be cured or not the fault of the individual....that's just wrong.
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Post by Bubble Lead on Aug 10, 2009 23:52:22 GMT -5
Eh, Oklahoma would have been okay for a one time thing, or a rarely occurring parody.
Making him a full time character was rather pointless.
It never offended me though, considering at the time Vince already had put him through embarrassing, tasteless mockery...and has done even worse since.
I never got why people would be so angry and railing on Russo and Ferarra when Vince has mocked JR having freakin SURGERY.
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Post by Cry Me a Wiggle on Aug 11, 2009 0:49:08 GMT -5
Didn't they drop the Bells Palsy facial tic after the first appearance?
Besides that aspect, I loved the character. Come on, how many of us knew that Juventud played football at Tijuana State before that? I don't know. It wasn't any less tacky than the Billionaire Ted stuff the WWF did a few years prior when they were on the losing side.
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Albino Heat
Don Corleone
You're a nasty bastard, and your momma said so!!
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Post by Albino Heat on Aug 11, 2009 0:58:55 GMT -5
It didn't horribly offend me, but I failed to see the upside. You're using valuable TV time to mock another company's announcer? That seems like a waste to me.
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Splinter
Don Corleone
Picard really hates fat kids
Posts: 1,897
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Post by Splinter on Aug 12, 2009 7:30:45 GMT -5
Ok full disclosure. At first I thought it was just "meh". I didn't give a shit. I thought the portrayal of JR's commentary style was faily well parodied but hte bells palsy thing kind of killed it for me. And while people bring up the fact that Vince pulled the same shit when JR underwent surgery, need i remind you that on this very forum people ranted and slated at how tasteess the angle was. We do that all the time here when Vince does a tasteless angle.
Agreed Schiavone was bland as were Madden and Mongo. I sometimes think that Don West is actually a Mark Madden parody/tribute. If WWE wanted to hit back they could have parodied Heenan (although very unlikely as he had no heat whatsoever with McMahon, JR, or Cornette)
However there is one era of JR's comentary that REALLY deserved merciless parody (although no other company did it) wasn't his attitude era football knowledge days. It would be 2003 -2004 not giving a crap era. Anyone thinks I'm joking stick in some of your past PPV DVDs and good ol' JR sounded like he was about to fall asleep.
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Post by Tea & Crumpets on Aug 12, 2009 11:24:37 GMT -5
Somebody mentions the Billionaire Ted stuff and I agree- hell, they outright called Gene, Hulk and Savage disloyal and greedy hasbeens. Had the Kolahoma parody not involved the illness at all it wouldve just been an innocent parody- like the bWO or Haas' parody gimmick or The Showster. But bringing the illness into it was what made it tasteless.
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