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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 20, 2008 17:06:02 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 46 and 45. Here are the hints:
A word for having a night job, and a detective with the same name as a gun and a popular brand of condoms.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 21, 2008 15:58:52 GMT -5
It's that countdown time again. Here's number 46: 46. Moonlighting Genre: Comedy, Mystery, and Romance. Created by: Glenn Gordon Caron. Executive Producer(s): Glenn Gordon Caron and Jay Daniel. Starring: Cybill Shepherd (Madeline “Maddie” Hayes), Bruce Willis (David Addison), Allyce Beasley (Agnes DiPesto), and Curtis Armstrong (Herbert Viola). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 5. Number of Episodes: 67. Running Time: 42-44 minutes. Original Channel: ABC. Original Run: March 3, 1985 – May 14, 1989 Spinoffs: None. Moonlighting was created by Glenn Gordon Caron. The series revolved around cases investigated by Blue Moon Detective Agency and its two partners, Madeline "Maddie" Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis). The show, with a mix of mystery, sharp dialogue and sexual tension between its two leads, introduced Bruce Willis to the world and brought Cybill Shepherd back into the spotlight after nearly a decade-long absence. The characters were first introduced in a two-hour TV movie which preceded the show. The show's storyline begins with the reversal of fortune of a former model, Hayes, who finds herself bankrupt after her accountant embezzles all of her liquid assets. She is left saddled with several failing businesses formerly maintained as tax write-offs, one of which is the City of Angels Detective Agency, helmed by the carefree David Addison. Between the pilot episode and first episode, Addison persuades Hayes to keep the business and run it in partnership. The detective agency is renamed "Blue Moon Investigations" because Hayes was most famous as the spokesmodel for the (fictitious) Blue Moon Shampoo company. In many episodes, she was recognized as "The Blue Moon Shampoo Girl," if not by name. The show also starred Allyce Beasley as Agnes DiPesto, the firm's quirky receptionist who regularly answered the phone in rhyming couplets, a la Dr. Seuss. In later seasons, Curtis Armstrong, familiar as the character Booger from the “Revenge of the Nerds” films, joined the cast as Herbert Viola, a temporary employee turned Blue Moon investigator and a love interest for Agnes. Caron was one of the producers of the similar Remington Steele, and ABC asked him to create the show, explicitly wanting a "boy/girl detective show" à la Remington Steele. The tone of the series was left up to the production staff, resulting in Moonlighting becoming one of the first successful TV "dramedies," dramatic-comedy, a style of television and movies in which there is an equal, or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content. The show made use of fast-paced, overlapping dialogue between the two leads, hearkening back to classic screwball comedy films such as those of director Howard Hawks, but which also led to chronic script delays during production in the series' five-year, off-and-on run. Moonlighting frequently broke the fourth wall, with many episodes including dialogue which made direct references to the scriptwriters, the audience, the network, or the series itself. Variations of this technique had been used previously in television programs such as Burns and Allen and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, although Moonlighting was the first scripted television series to weave self-referential dialogue directly into the show's plot. Also unlike the earlier shows, Moonlighting sometimes broke the fourth wall in much more involved and complex ways; in several episodes, the plot suddenly transitioned into extended sequences which involved crew dismantling or changing the sets, characters wandering off the set into other parts of the studio, production crew stepping into the scene as a deus ex machina, or actors dropping character and referring to each other by their real names. Actors, viewers and TV critics were used to introduce repeats and long-awaited episodes that were scheduled due to production delays. In the second season's Christmas episode, lead characters David Addison and Maddie Hayes walk out of the office through where a wall should be to where the show's staff is singing Christmas carols. In the final episode of the second season, "Camille", David and Maddie flee from one set to the protests of the crew who say, "You can't leave. We've still got two more pages to shoot on this set!" The chase goes across the lot where they encounter Agnes DiPesto leaving for the day. They tell her, "You can't leave; you're in this scene!" The protagonists get to their office set and lock the door, but the villain is already waiting. As he is about to pull the trigger, a propmaster takes his gun away. The set is disassembled while the stars explain how this episode would have been wrapped up. In the show's final episode, the lead characters return to their office to find a network executive who tells them the show has been cancelled as the set is (again) dismantled by crew members. The series also embraced fantasy; in season two, the show aired "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", an episode that featured two lengthy and elaborately produced black and white dream sequences. The episode was about a murder that had occurred in the 1940s that David and Maddie are told about by a client who hired them to unsuccessfully find out if his wife was cheating on him. Maddie and David feud over the details of the crime, which involve a man and woman who were executed for the death of the woman's husband, with both claiming the other was the real killer and had implicated the other out of spite. After a fourteen minute set-up sequence, the show switched to two black and white dream sequences where the two dreamed their version of how the murder took place. The two sequences were filmed on different black and white film stock so that they would look like true period films. (On the commentary on the DVD it is said that they used black and white film instead of color so that the network wouldn't later use the color film). ABC was still displeased with the episode, however, and fearing fan reaction to a popular show being shown in black and white, demanded a disclaimer be made at the beginning of the episode to inform viewers of the "black and white" gimmick for the episode. The show's producers hired Orson Welles to deliver the introduction, which aired a few days after the actor's death. Another famous fantasy episode was "Atomic Shakespeare", which featured the cast performing a variation of Taming of the Shrew, complete with Shakespearean costumes, including David riding in on a horse with BMW logos embroidered on its saddle blanket. The episode was wrapped by segments featuring a boy imagining the episode's proceedings because his mother forced him to do his homework instead of watching Moonlighting. In addition, the show mocked its connection to the popular Remington Steele series by having Pierce Brosnan hop networks and make a cameo appearance as Steele in one episode. The show also acknowledged Hart to Hart as an influence: in the episode "It's a Wonderful Job", based on the film “It's a Wonderful Life,” Maddie's guardian angel showed her an alternate reality in which Jonathan and Jennifer Hart from the earlier series had taken over Blue Moon's lease. Although Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers did not appear in the episode, Lionel Stander reprised his role as the Harts' assistant Max. Both Shepherd and Willis sang musical numbers over the course of the show. In "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", Shepherd performed both "Blue Moon" in Maddie's dream sequence and The Soft Winds' "I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out!" in David's, while in "Atomic Shakespeare", Willis sings The Young Rascals' "Good Lovin'". Willis also frequently broke into shorter snippets of Motown songs. "Good Lovin'", "Blue Moon" and "I Told Ya I Love Ya..." appeared on the show's soundtrack album. The episode "Big Man on Mulberry Street" centers around a big production dance number set to that Billy Joel song. The sequence was directed by veteran musical director Stanley Donen. The show was plagued by production problems throughout its run, and it became notorious for airing reruns when new episodes had not been completed in time for broadcast. The first two seasons of Moonlighting focused almost entirely on the two main characters, having them appear in almost every scene. According to Cybill Shepherd: "I left home at 5 A.M. each day. Moonlighting scripts were close to a hundred pages, half again as long as the average one-hour television series. Almost from the moment the cameras started rolling we were behind schedule, sometimes completing as few as sixteen episodes per season, and never achieving the standard twenty-two." Glenn Gordon Caron partly blamed Cybill Shepherd for production problems: "I don't mean to paint her as the sole bearer of responsibility for the discord. But if I said to you, 'You're going to have a great new job -- it's a life-defining job -- but you're going to work 14-15 hours a day, and by the way, you'll never know what hours those are -- sometimes you'll start at noon and work until 3 a.m., other times you won't know when or where it will be [until the last minute].' It can be very difficult, it requires an amazing amount of stamina. It's easier to do if you're still reaching for the stars, it's a lot tougher if you're already a star, if you've already reached the top of the mountain." Producer Jay Daniel talked about the difficulties between the costars in the later seasons: "Well, I was the guy that more often than not would be the one that would go into the lions den when they were having disagreements. I'd sort of be the referee, try to resolve it so that we could get back to work. So there was that side of it. Everybody knows there was friction between the two of them on the stage. In the beginning, Bruce was just a guy’s guy. Let's just say he evolved. Over the years, he went from being the crew's best friend and just being grateful for the work and all of that to realizing that he was going to be a movie star and wanting to move on. Part of that was because of his strained relationship with Cybill. That sometimes made the set a very unpleasant place to be. Cybill -- I got along with her very well at times, other times I’d have to be the one who said you have to come out of the trailer and go to work. In fairness to her, she was in the makeup chair at six thirty in the morning with pages of dialogue she hadn’t seen before, she'd work very long hours, and then be back in the makeup chair at six thirty the next morning." The delays became so great that even ABC mocked the lateness with an ad campaign showing network executives waiting impatiently for the arrival of new episodes at ABC's corporate headquarters. One episode featured television critic Jeff Jarvis in an introduction, sarcastically reminding viewers what was going on with the show's plot since it had been so long since the last new episode. The episode "The Straight Poop" also made fun of the episode delays by having Hollywood columnist Rona Barrett drop by the Blue Moon Detective Agency to figure out why David and Maddie couldn't get along. In the end, Rona convinced them to apologize to one another, and promised the viewers that there would be a new episode the following week. Even with the introduction of co-stars to relieve the pressure on Shepherd and Willis, a number of other factors caused problems: writing delays, Shepherd's real-life pregnancy, and a skiing accident in which Willis broke his clavicle. To counter these problems, with the fourth season, the writers began to focus more of the show's attention on supporting cast members Agnes and Herbert, writing several episodes focusing on the two so that the show would be able to have episodes ready for airing. Although Moonlighting was a hit in the Nielsen ratings in its early seasons, the show's ratings began to decline after the season three finale, which infamously had Maddie and David consummate their relationship after three years of romantic tension. Moonlighting is popularly cited as an example of a television show jumping the shark due to its two leads sleeping together, which many felt destroyed the sexual tension that drove the show. The X-Files producer Chris Carter repeatedly cited the show as a cautionary tale, influencing his desire to keep his lead characters' relationship platonic. However many fans of the show and an equal number of critics dismiss the "They Did It" notion that having Maddie and David sleep together led to the show's decline. Glenn Gordon Caron, in commentaries on the third season DVD set, also didn't think that the show had to decline after that event. A number of factors led to the series' decline and eventual cancellation that had little to do with the lead characters consummating their relationship. In the fourth season, Willis and Shepherd had little screen time together. Jay Daniel explained that, "we had to do episodes where there was no Cybill. She was off having twins. Her scenes were shot early, early on and then you had to integrate them with scenes shot weeks later. You were locked into what those scenes were because of what had already been shot with Cybill." Bruce Willis was also making Die Hard during this period. When that movie became a box office success, a movie career beckoned and his desire to continue in a weekly series waned. In a series that depended on the chemistry between the two main stars, not having them together for the bulk of the fourth season hurt the ratings. The series lost Glenn Gordon Caron as executive producer and head writer when he left the show over difficulties with the production: "I don't think Cybill understood how hard the workload was going to be. A situation arose with her, and at a certain point it became clear that… umm…suffice it to say I wasn't there for the last year and a half." When Maddie returned to Los Angeles near the end of the fourth season, the writers tried to recreate the tension between Maddie and David by having Maddie spontaneously marry a man named Walter Bishop (Dennis Dugan) within a few hours of meeting him on the train back to LA. This was widely criticized as a cynical and poorly executed plot development, in terms of artificially creating a love triangle storyline to try and drive the conflict of the series, which led to an even further ratings decline. Neither of the principal stars was vested in the last season of the show. Bruce Willis, fresh from his Die Hard success, wanted to make movies. Cybill Shepherd, having just given birth to twins, had grown tired of the long, grueling production days and was ready for the series to end. In the 1988–1989 TV season, the show's ratings declined precipitously. The March to August 1988 Writers Guild of America strike cancelled plans for the 1987-1988 Moonlighting season finale to be filmed and aired on TV in 3-D in a deal with Coca-Cola (though Coca-Cola did a 3-D TV deal with NBC's broadcast of the halftime show of Super Bowl XXIII in January 1989 instead) and delayed the broadcast of the first new episode until December 6, 1988. The series went on hiatus during the February sweeps, and returned on Sunday evenings in the spring of 1989. Six more episodes aired before the series was cancelled in May of that year. In keeping with the show's tradition of "breaking the fourth wall", the last episode (fittingly titled "Lunar Eclipse") featured Maddie and David returning from Bert and Agnes' wedding to find the Blue Moon sets being taken away, and an ABC network executive waiting to tell them that the show had been cancelled. The characters then raced through the studio lot in search of a television producer named Cy, as the world of Moonlighting was slowly dismantled. When they found Cy, he was screening a print of "In n' Outside", the episode of Moonlighting that had aired two weeks earlier. Once informed of the problem, Cy stopped his screening to lecture David and Maddie on the perils of losing their audience and the fragility of romance. Cy was played by Dennis Dugan, the same actor who had played Walter Bishop in Maddie's marriage storyline — however, Dugan was also the director of the episode, so his acting credit was listed as "Walter Bishop". The final scene was a message stating that "Blue Moon Investigations ceased operations on May 14, 1989 — and the Anselmo case was never solved." As the show had not produced enough episodes to gain a syndication contract, following its original run it was not widely seen until its DVD release, although it occasionally appeared on cable channels (including Lifetime and Bravo in the U.S., and W in Canada) in the 1990s and 2000s. Bravo airings often featured new claymation promos with Maddie and David using original audio clips from the series. The "Atomic Shakespeare" episode aired on Nick at Nite in 2005 as part of the network's 20th anniversary celebration. The 1985 ABC Tuesday night line-up was honored with reruns of Who's the Boss?, Growing Pains and Moonlighting, although that episode was from 1987. BBC initially carried the show in the UK, though it was more recently repeated on the shortlived UK digital channel ABC1. Lions Gate Entertainment has released all 5 seasons of Moonlighting on DVD in Region 1. Most people know this as the show that made Bruce Willis famous. That’s not surprising. I mean, you knew the minute you say him, with his cocksure swagger, barroom eyes, and quarterback smile, that Bruce Willis was a star when he first appeared on ABC’s crime-dramedy Moonlighting. But, there was more the show. Moonlighting was a show about solving crimes in the same way that Cheers was a show about mixing drinks. The draw of this romantic dramedy was the screwball interplay between cocky, too-hip-for-the-room, David Lee Roth with a badge private eye David Addison (Willis) and tough-talking fleeced ex-model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd). The razor-sharp repartee that Willis and Shepherd shared and the show’s gleeful irreverence helped make Moonlighting a “Thin Man” for the opulent 1980s. Created by ex-Remington Steele writer Glenn Gordon Caron, Moonlighting virtually redefined screwball comedies for the postfeminist era. For almost five seasons, Maddie screamed at David. David howled back. Maddie threw something. David ducked. And, maybe they did a little investigating. But as long as David and Maddie worked together yet did get together, American didn’t care if they ever got to the bottom of a case. Their on-again, off-again relationship, which, like most such TV romances, was best when it was off-again (though the fact that Willis and Shepherd didn’t appear together in much of the episodes of the fourth season hurt the show a lot more than the fact that David and Maddie eventually did have sex) was by far the show's most intriguing mystery. But the greatest attraction was the show's flights of fancy: musical episodes, takeoffs on The Honeymooners and The Taming of the Shrew, a 1940s-style film noir pastiche, frequent breaking of the fourth wall, and the occasional fantasy sequence involving Dr. Joyce Brothers and Ray Charles. And, all those things were fine and dandy as long as the mile-a-minute dialogue kept coming, and the potent emotions that coursed between the Blue Moon detectives stayed under the surface where they belonged. Unfortunately, David and Maddie did get together late into Moonlighting’s run, and the show lost its fizz (yes, I know I just said that Willis and Shepherd not sharing the screen was one of the main reasons the show got cancelled, but I still have to admit that David and Maddie having sex was when Moonlighting jumped the shark). Though, Moonlighting was destined to have a short lifespan. The show's on-screen bickering was reflected in backstage chaos (Shepherd and the producers clashed frequently, causing several delays), and viewers drifted away after a couple seasons. But it was a crazy love affair while it lasted. And, it’s sorely missed. David and Maddie were locked in a state of eternal foreplay: fast-talking, pratfalling, begrudgingly affectionate foreplay that isn’t really seen today. The mystery shows of today focus more on the crime than the crimesolvers, while the show's procedual mysteries were never more than fuel for David and Maddie’s relationship fire, an alien concept in these emotionless CSI times. Like I said, Moonlighting is sorely missed.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 21, 2008 16:41:56 GMT -5
45. Magnum, P.I. Genre: Drama, Mystery. Created by: Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson. Executive Producer(s): Donald P. Bellisario, Glen A. Larson, Tom Selleck, and Chas. Floyd Johnson. Starring: Tom Selleck (Thomas Magnum), John Hillerman (Jonathan Quayle Higgins III), Roger E. Mosley (Theodore “T.C.” Calvin), and Larry Manetti (Orville “Rick” Wright). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 8. Number of Episodes: 162. Running Time: 60 minutes. Original Channel: CBS. Original Run: December 11, 1980 – May 1, 1988. Spinoffs: A movie based on the show is planned for release in 2009. The show was created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson. They were hired by CBS to create a show that took place in Hawaii. One reason for this was so CBS could re-use many of the sets from its other hit show, Hawaii Five-O which had just completed its on-air run in 1980. Several early episodes make reference to the Five-O squad. While this could be seen as setting this series in the same “universe” as Hawaii Five-O (highly likely, due to the numerous references), such references are common even in real life, due to the cultural impact of that series. Given Magnum’s ironic reference to McGarrett, however, this "shared universe" theory is questionable. Due to crossovers with other programs, the series is also shown to take place in the same continuity as Murder, She Wrote and Simon and Simon, and, by extension, The Law and Harry McGraw and Whiz Kids. The premise of the show was to follow the life of a private investigator living in Hawaii. Tom Selleck portrayed the series' lead character, Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV. The Magnum character's back-story includes a previous career as a former U.S. Navy SEAL. Magnum is a 1967 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Magnum's specialized training includes acquiring appropriate expertise as a counter-insurgency expert, and also demonstrating additional expertise in lock picking and safe-cracking. Magnum played the field position of quarterback for the United States Naval Academy football team. The Magnum character is depicted to have resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy in disillusionment after approximately eleven years of service, including three tours of service during the U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. Thomas Magnum lives and resides in the 'guest house' of a posh, 200-acre beachfront estate, known as Robin's Nest, in Hawaii, at the invitation of its owner, Robin Masters, the celebrated-but-never-seen author of several dozen lurid novels. Ostensibly this is quid pro quo for Magnum's services based upon Magnum's demonstrated expertise in quality control of the estate’s security. In addition, Robin’s Nest is guarded by two highly-trained Doberman Pinschers, Zeus and Apollo, and all other aspects of the estate are managed by Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (played by John Hillerman), an ex-British Army Sergeant Major with whom, often as a humorous aside during various episodes of the series, Magnum must barter for use of estate amenities other than the guest house and the Ferrari (i.e., tennis courts, wine cellar, expensive cameras, etc.). During early seasons of Magnum, P.I., the voice of Robin Masters, heard only a few times per season, was voiced by Orson Welles. The writers originally wanted to eventually reveal Orson Welles as being Robin Masters all along, but Welles died before the storyline could materialize. A recurrent theme throughout the series involves Magnum's suspicion that Higgins is actually Robin Masters. This possibility is never fully substantiated or refuted: Higgins' dual identity remains an open question until the final episode. That he may, in fact, be the elusive pulp-fiction writer Robin Masters is a pet theory of Magnum's, and one that the other characters do not particularly embrace, until the series finale. Magnum seemingly lives a dream (but, in fact a pseudo-dream lifestyle): he comes and goes as he pleases, works only when he wants to, has the almost unlimited use of a Ferrari 308 GTS as well as many other of Robin Masters’ luxuries. He keeps a mini-fridge with a seemingly endless supply of beer, is seemingly surrounded by countless beautiful women (who are often his clients or victims in the cases he solves), and enjoys adventures with his two buddies, both former U.S. Marines he served with in VM-02 (a Marine Observation Squadron operating in Bắc Thái Tỉnh, Vietnam) during the Vietnam War. The buddies are: Theodore "T.C." Calvin (played by Roger E. Mosley) (who sports a Da Nang baseball cap, and who occasionally calls Higgins "Higgie-baby"), a helicopter pilot who operates a tourist charter business called Island Hoppers, wherein he pilots a Hughes 500D helicopter, decked out with distinctive livery. T.C.'s combat-trained flight skills are often solicited and put to good use by Magnum during the course of an investigation. T.C. is also powerfully built, a trait which Magnum often benefits from when he expects to, and often does, run into physical trouble. With the exception of some early season 1 episodes, T.C. avoids alcohol, instead preferring milk, soda, or juice, but mostly coffee. Orville Wilbur Richard “Rick” Wright (Larry Manetti), a suave playboy who is manager of the King Kamehameha Club, an exclusive beachfront members-only club. In the pilot, Rick owned Rick’s Cafe Americaine (a.k.a. "The Snow Palace"), a reference to Casablanca. Rick also maintains a number of underworld contacts (one of whom is Francis “Icepick” Hofstetler, played by Elisha Cook Jr., a loan shark, gang boss, and Rick’s stepfather), and is an expert in weaponry—he was T.C.’s door gunner during the war. The series featured a large ensemble of minor characters who appeared in many episodes over multiple seasons. Many of these actors first played other characters in earlier episodes and then became regulars in the following roles: Lt. Yoshi Tanaka (Kwan Hi Lim Seasons 2–8): Homicide-division police lieutenant with the Honolulu police department, characterized by his casual dress and ironic sense of humor. Agatha Chumley (Gillian Dobb Seasons 3-8): Higgins' quintessentially English friend Col. “Buck” Greene (played by Lance LeGault Seasons 2–8): Marine Corps intelligence officer, often Magnum's nemesis. Carol Baldwin (Kathleen Lloyd Seasons 3–8): assistant district attorney. Lt. “Mac” MacReynolds (played by Jeff MacKay Seasons 1–3 and 7–8): doughnut-munching Navy Intelligence lieutenant, killed off in the series, and later brought back as a look-alike character. Jim Bonig (Jeff MacKay Seasons 5–8): con man who was MacReynolds’ look-alike. In at least two episodes ("Mac's Back" and "Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts") MacKay appeared in both roles.. Francis “Icepick” Hofstetler (Elisha Cook Jr. who had a number of other roles in the series as well): loan shark, gang boss, and Rick’s stepfather Doc Ibold (Glenn Cannon Seasons 2–8): very minor character who nevertheless appeared in many episodes whenever a physician was needed in the script. First referred to as "Script Writer #1", he was known for writing prescriptions for opiates for any and all ailments. Michelle Hue(Marta DuBois Seasons 2–8): Magnum’s (Presumed former wife- to the viewers' acknowledgment, no divorce/annulment papers were ever signed, even though she returned to her presumed-dead first husband when he resurfaced), presumed dead but reappearing as the wife of a North Vietnamese general and the mother of Magnum’s child, and often seen in flashbacks. Lt. (later Lt. Cdr.) Maggie Poole(Jean Bruce Scott Seasons 3–8): successor of the deceased MacReynolds. Luther H. Gillis (Eugene Roche Seasons 4–8): mock-film noir private eye from St. Louis, and narrator of the five episodes in which he appeared. The producers originally intended to use a Porsche 928 as 'Magnum's' car and asked Porsche to produce one with an extra large sunroof for aerial shots. Due to a strict policy by Porsche of not doing any special specifications at customer request, the Ferrari 308 GTS (which came equipped with a removable roof from the factory) was chosen instead and went on to become one of the most iconic cars of all time. The Ferrari used in the pilot episode was driven across the United States by noted author P.J. O'Rourke. His essay "Ferrari Refutes the Decline of The West", published in his book "Republican Party Reptile" is a great road trip story in itself. O'Rourke was working for Car and Driver in 1979, when he and his boss were asked to drive a brand new 308GTS from New York to LA, and then write an article on it. Naturally they do so (at speeds as high as 140 mph) and "Ferrari refutes the Decline of The West" was the result. At the very end of the essay O'Rourke remarks the car was being shipped to Hawaii to be used in filming a movie called "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii", which (although O'Rourke didn't know it at the time) was the title Magnum pilot. In the E! True Hollywood Story episode on the series, Donald Bellisario reveals the character of Rick was designed to be a faithful impression of Humphrey Bogart's character of the same name from Casablanca. This is further evidenced in the restaurant, called Rick's Cafe Americaine, owned and operated by Rick in the pilot. According to Bellisario, the studio execs at CBS "just didn't get it," and asked that this gimmick be discontinued. For the remainder of the series, Larry Manetti simply played Rick as himself. It was originally intended for there to be an episode of the science fiction program Quantum Leap where Scott Bakula's character, Sam Beckett, leaps into the identity of Thomas Magnum. The episode would depict Beckett stumbling through a day-in-the-life of Magnum, P.I., and presumably interacting with the varied series regulars. Both Magnum P.I. and Quantum Leap were produced by Donald P. Bellisario. Plans for a Magnum, P.I. movie led to the early demise of the crossover, but some footage was filmed; namely, the end-of-episode “jumping in” scene, in which Beckett jumps into Magnum’s life, turns to the camera, and raises his eyebrows the same way Selleck made famous. If this episode had been made, however, it would have presented a minor continuity problem, as the episode "Another Mother" showed a character watching Magnum, P.I. on television, implying Magnum is a fictional show within the Quantum Leap universe. The fictional license plate on the Ferrari changed from “56E 478” to “ROBIN 1” after thirteen episodes (the first 13 bought), which it remained for the duration of the series. The original plate number can be seen, briefly, in the titles of every episode, just as the 308 pulls away from the shoulder of the highway. Other vehicles in the series displayed similar “ROBIN” vanity plates, including an Audi 5000 with "ROBIN 2", a GMC Jimmy SUV with "ROBIN 3", and a green Ferrari (“ROBIN 28”) driven by Robin’s nephew, R.J. Masters. Robert Loggia, who starred as the bad guy in the pilot, directed a number of episodes. In January 2006, it was announced a feature film is again in the planning stages (after several false starts most recently in 2005) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (whose filmmaking credits notably include Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) would write and direct the screenplay. The show ended in 1988. In January 2007, it was reported Matthew McConaughey would play Magnum, with Steve Zahn as Rick, Tyrese Gibson as T.C., and William H. Macy as Higgins. IMDBpro.com has said that on January 17, 2007, the script is finished and the film will be released in 2009. Peter Falk. Telly Savalas. Robert Blake. All whizzes in the sleuthing department but, let’s face it, hardly GQ cover boys or guys you’d want to date (especially Blake, considering that pesky little murder trial). In fact, not until ex-Dating Game and Salem cigarette man Tom Selleck stepped into the scuffed sneakers of Vietnam War vet Thomas Magnum did the detective-show genre land its first bona fide hunk. The strapping, 6 foot 4, dimpled Selleck exuded a good-guy sex appeal that drew women to what had been almost exclusively male territory. And unlike Jack Lord’s granite-jawed character on Magnum P.I.’s predecessor Hawaii Five-O, Selleck brought to his crimesolving efforts a laidback sartorial style (a Detroit Tigers cap, loud Hawaiian shirts unbuttoned down to there, and incredibly short shorts), an endearing fallibility (he’d outrun the bad guys only to forget where he’d parked the getaway car), and, most notably, a healthy sense of tongue-in-cheek humor (what other show would bring in comedienne Carol Burnett to share a bank vault with Magnum in a case gone awry?). After all, people didn’t tune in to this Rockford-esque drama for its weekly dose of suspense. It was Selleck’s amiable charm, and the incessant bickering with his tightly would British majordomo Jonathan Higgins (or “Higgie Baby,” as his friends T.C. and Rick called him sometimes), that kept Americans watching. However, there was more to Magnum than just Tom Selleck’s charm (and, I’m not just saying that so you won’t think that I have a man-crush of Selleck; you would have probably already have thought anyway). There was a big theme to the show: growing up. Yes, the show was about a man in his 30’s, but Magnum’s father died when he was really young. Since then, he’s felt like he had to be the man of the house, an adult. Magnum grew up, went to Vietnam, stayed in the Navy with Navy Intelligence. The show begins with Magnum saying that he quit Navy Intelligence because he realized that he was “33 and had never been a kid.” And, he lives in a huge male fantasy, living in Hawaii with a cool job and a free guest house at a mansion with a refrigerator stacked with a seemingly endless supply of beer and unlimited access to a Ferrari. And, he dates some very hot women and has sex with no consequences (remember this show aired during the height of the AIDS epidemic). He is basically living life as a kid in an adult. However, there are things that keep trying to make him grow up (tough cases, his past, a daughter, friends dying, Higgins, etc.) Magnum is basically a teenager, living like a young kid but having to deal with adult issues. By the end of the show, having turned forty, nearly died, and getting his kid-like inhibitions out of his system, Magnum finally grows up, is awarded custody of a daughter he had with an ex, and returns to his Navy Intelligence position. On the surface, Magnum P.I. was a cool detective show with a charming lead, but underneath it was a coming of age tale about man who never got to be a kid.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 21, 2008 16:43:13 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 44 and 43. Here are the hints:
Penis Van Lesbian, and a jazzy buckeroo.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 22, 2008 14:10:03 GMT -5
Countdown time, again. Here's number 44: 44. The Dick Van Dyke Show Genre: Sitcom. Created by: Carl Reiner. Executive Producer(s): Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas. Starring: Dick Van Dyke (Robert “Rob” Petrie), Mary Tyler Moore (Laura Petrie), Rose Marie (Sally Rogers), Morey Amsterdam (Maurice “Buddy” Sorrell), Larry Mathews (Richard “Ritchie” Petrie), Richard Deacon (Melvin “Mel” Cooley), Jerry Paris (Jerry Helper), and Ann Morgan Guilbert (Mildred “Millie” Helper). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 5. Number of Episodes: 158. Running Time: 25 minutes. Original Channel: CBS. Original Run: October 3, 1961 – June 1, 1966. Spinoffs: A reunion special was aired in 2004. The show was created and produced by Carl Reiner, who wrote many episodes and played the part of Alan Brady. Reiner based the main character on himself and the Brady character on his former boss Sid Caesar. Many of the show's plots were inspired by Reiner's experiences as a writer for Your Show of Shows, which starred Caesar. Storylines deal with Rob and his two coworkers, Buddy and Sally, who write material for the TV show. Mel Cooley, a balding straight man (and recipient of numerous insulting one-liners from Buddy), is the show's producer and the brother-in-law of Alan Brady, the show's seldom-seen star. As Rob, Buddy, and Sally write for a comedy show, the premise provides a built-in forum for them to "be funny." Other stories focus on the home life of Rob and Laura, who live in suburban New Rochelle, New York. Frequently seen is their young son, Ritchie, as well as their neighbors, Jerry and Millie Helper. The show was an excellent vehicle for Van Dyke's physical comedy and sight gags. The classic example is the scene in the opening titles, in which Van Dyke enters through the front door and trips over the ottoman. (This opening was added beginning in the second season of the series. The first season's opening credits were a composite of promotion stills and screen grabs from the pilot episode.) Producers filmed three versions: one in which Van Dyke trips over the ottoman, one in which he steps around it, and a rarely seen third variation in which Van Dyke avoids the ottoman and then trips on the carpet. Viewers were kept wondering which version would be used on any particular episode, as the show's editors were instructed to use them randomly. The series was considered a trailblazer for its comparatively realistic portrayal of relationships, although the Petries slept in separate beds, and caused some mild controversy because of Mary Tyler Moore's decision to wear Capri slacks in an era when most sitcom wives wore dresses and skirts, even though Lucille Ball had previously worn Capri slacks on I Love Lucy. The show included humorous but intelligent portrayals of other subjects not previously seen on sitcoms, including religion, race, death, infidelity, and psychiatry. One episode dealt with Ritchie Petrie's use of profanity; another involved his parents' explaining to him the "facts of life." The storylines gave viewers an "inside look" at how a TV show was run and written. This was rare at a time when situation comedy was limited to occupations other than show business. It also gave the cast an opportunity to do "variety" episodes that included stand-up comedy, music, and other non-situation segments. Carl Reiner originally planned to produce and star in the series, which was going to be titled Head of the Family. A pilot episode was made in July of 1960, but it was unsuccessful. Executive producer Sheldon Leonard liked Reiner's concept but felt that Reiner was miscast. Leonard cast Dick van Dyke as Rob Petrie, and Reiner was recast to better effect as Alan Brady (a character called "Alan Sturdy" in Reiner's unsuccessful pilot), the egotistical television star for whom Rob works. In the early episodes, Reiner was only shown with his head turned away from the camera. His voice would also be heard in many commercial announcements when the characters are watching TV or as a radio DJ. Both Leonard and business partner Danny Thomas also appeared on the show guest roles. Reiner always maintained that he never intended for the series to run more than five seasons, making this one of the first successful American TV series to end on its own accord while still popular rather than through cancellation. It has done extremely well in syndicated reruns, most notably on Nick at Nite from 1991 to 2000, then on its sister cable network TV Land from 2000 to 2007. The Dick Van Dyke Show is considered to have been an inspiration for many later sitcoms, in particular the long-running Mad About You. Carl Reiner even reprised the role of Alan Brady for an episode. Van Dyke returned in 1971 in an unrelated vehicle, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, which despite running for three years is rarely shown in syndication. On May 11, 2004, CBS aired a reunion special, The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited. Produced by Carl Reiner, who referred to the hour-long special as "The 159th Episode," the show reunited cast members Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, Larry Mathews, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Jerry Van Dyke, and Bill Idelson. Reiner reprised his role as Alan Brady. Deceased cast members Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, and Jerry Paris were remembered in flashbacks. The main plot of the special involves the relatively healthy Alan Brady asking Rob and Sally to write his eulogy so that he knows in advance what will be said about him after he dies. The Petries and Sally, along with Rob's brother Stacey and longtime friend Millie, discuss ideas that are illustrated by way of flashbacks to the old show. The special ends with Van Dyke and Moore, out of character, reminiscing about the series as more flashbacks are shown. Ray Romano hosts the special. Van Dyke and Moore reprised the Petrie characters as they were in 1979, and also later in life as seniors, in an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Variety Hour" on March 25, 1979. For reasons that are unclear, six episodes from the second season have lapsed into the public domain, and as a result are widely available at Walmart and 'dollar stores' for $1-$2 per DVD or VHS tape. Image Entertainment has released all 5 Seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD in Region 1. Season sets were released between October 2003 - June 2004. Also, on May 24, 2005, Image Entertainment released a 25-disc boxset of the entire series. It could be argued that the modern sitcom began with The Dick Van Dyke Show. Why? Because, the series gave equal time to its main character’s work life and family life; in the days of Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best, we rarely saw Dad at the office. In Rob Petrie’s job as head writer for The Alan Brady Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show satirized the TV industry decades before The Larry Sanders Show. TV has always loved to talk about itself, and this sitcom was the first in a line of classic shows set in the TV business. Unlike some of its cutthroat successors, The Dick Van Dyke made the TV biz seem downright friendly, as Rob Petrie wrote sketches for the egotistical and temperamental Alan Brady (Reiner, in occasional guest shots) and cut up with pals perpetual borscht belt wisecracker Buddy Sorrell (Amsterdam) and husband-hunting Sally Rogers (Marie, in a rare early role as working woman comic), both of whom delighted in insulting producer and Alan Brady brother-in-law Mel Cooley (Deacon). And, in Rob Petrie’s home life, we got one of TV classic couples: Rob and Laura Petrie. The comic chemistry between the dashing, ottoman-tripping Van Dyke and a smokin' young Mary Tyler Moore as Laura makes the show hold up even today. Not only was Moore’s Laura allowed to be just as funny as her husband (which had occurred only in extraordinary instances like I Love Lucy), but she was also one of the first sexy housewives in small-screen history, so fetching that she allowed to wear her trademark butt-hugging capri pants in only one scene per episode. Plus, classic episodes abounded: from Laura getting her toe stuck in the bathtub facet to when Rob dreams about ever-present walnuts and an alien with no thumbs that looks like Danny Thomas. And, in a true mark of class, The Dick Van Dyke Show went off riding high, still in the Top 20 and with four straight Outstanding Comedy Emmys. In doing so, it upheld that cardinal rule of showbiz: always leave them wanting more.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 22, 2008 14:59:56 GMT -5
43. Cowboy Bebop Genre: Anime, Space Western, Comedy, Crime Drama. Created by: Shinichiro Watanabe (Director) and Keiko Nobumoto (Writer). Executive Producer(s): None. Starring: Kôichi Yamadera (Spike Spiegel Japanese voice) Steve Blum (Spike Spiegel American voice), Unshô Ishizuka (Jet Black Japanese voice) Beau Billingslea (Jet Black American voice), Megumi Hayashibara (Faye Valentine Japanese voice), Wendee Lee (Faye Valentine American voice), Aoi Tada (Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV Japanese voice), and Melissa Fahn (Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV American voice). Country of Origin: Japan. Number of Seasons: 1. Number of Episodes: 26. Running Time: 30 minutes. Original Channel: TV Tokyo (4-3-1998 to 6-19-1998, 12 episodes only), WOWOW (10-23-1998 to 04-23-1999, full series), and Animax (full series). Original Run: April 3, 1998 – April 23, 1999. Spinoffs: “Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” a movie based on the show. It is called “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” due to copyright issues of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (if you don’t know, it’s also the name of a Bob Dylan song). Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and written by Keiko Nobumoto, Cowboy Bebop was produced by Sunrise. Consisting of 26 episodes, the series follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters traveling on their spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071. Cowboy Bebop was a commercial success both in Japan and international markets, notably in the United States. After this reception, Sony Pictures released a feature film, Knockin' on Heaven's Door to theaters worldwide and followed up with an international DVD release. Two Cowboy Bebop manga series were also adapted based on the anime, as well as two video games for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game consoles. The plot of the show goes: In the year 2071 AD, the crew of the spaceship Bebop travel the solar system trying to apprehend bounties. Nation-states have collapsed, and various races and peoples live throughout the solar system. In the slang of the era, "Cowboys" are bounty hunters. Most episodes revolve around a specific bounty, but the show often shares its focus with the pasts each of the four main characters and of more general past events, which are revealed and brought together as the series progresses. In the year 2021, ring-shaped hyperspace gateways (also referred to as "astral gates") were constructed across the solar system, allowing easy interplanetary travel. Unfortunately, the gate network contained a fatal instability that was ignored by the contractors who built the system. The instability grew until a gateway near Earth exploded, releasing a powerful burst of energy that cracked the Moon. In a cataclysmic disaster referred to as "The Gate Accident", meteoric debris from the devastated Moon rained down on the planet, destroying much of Earth's surface. The death toll was by far the most catastrophic in recorded history; around 4.7 billion lives were lost in the initial incident alone. Decades later, debris from the disaster still falls on Earth with the same frequency as rainstorms ("rock showers" are a part of daily weather forecasts), forcing those remaining on Earth to live mostly underground. Most left Earth after the Gate Incident and spread out across the solar system, living in colonies on Venus, Mars, some habitable asteroids, Saturn's moon Titan, and the Galilean moons of Jupiter, as well as many space stations and a penal colony on Pluto. As shown by posters and ads, the solar community is still very racially and culturally diverse, and English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Korean, Mandarin and Japanese are some of the languages shown to be currently used. The total population of the solar system in 2071, when the series takes place, is only 1.5 billion. Many of Mars's impact craters were domed and transformed into thriving metropolitan areas for those who could afford it. Venus was terraformed, with oxygen provided by a species of oxygen-producing plants floating in the atmosphere. This is not a perfect process, however, since the spores of these plants cause “Venus Sickness” in some people. This condition, left untreated, may lead to blindness or death, and proper treatment is expensive. Many moons of Jupiter, such as Callisto, Io, Europa, and Ganymede, have been terraformed and colonized with varying degrees of success. Callisto is a cold, almost-inhospitable moon (with the entirely male city, Blue Crow). Meanwhile, Ganymede is almost completely covered by water and is known for its declining fishing industry. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a barren desert world whose population has been at war since the 2060s. The Titan War II in 2068 was survived by veterans such as the characters Vicious, Gren, Vincent, and Electra. There is a Solar System Penitentiary on Pluto, and certain asteroids (such as Tijuana, the asteroid colony seen in the first episode) have been colonized for their minerals and other natural resources. After the advent of space travel, the bounty system of the Old West was reinstated by the government to help curb growing crime levels. Bounty hunters are encouraged to capture criminals and return them (alive and relatively unharmed) to the authorities for monetary rewards, in part through a regular television broadcast of "Big Shot", a bounty-hunter news program featuring a heavily-accented Mexican named Punch and a perky blonde named Judy (a reference to the puppets of the same name). In addition, ruthless crime syndicates have large influence in the Solar System, indulging in such fields as bribery, murder, extortion, drug dealing, money laundering and other criminal offenses. The Woolong is the universal currency, and paper money is less common since more people carry convenient money cards and rely on digital transfers. The technology in the world of Cowboy Bebop has undergone advances to accommodate 21st century life in the Solar System. Medical advancements such as artificial organs, organ regrowth and cryogenic freezing have been mastered and are in full use. Hardware called the “Alpha Catch” provides a mind-machine interface for capturing or projecting video from memories. Virtual reality gaming is standard, and analog hardware such as videocassettes (VHS or beta) can only be found as antiques. Finally, World Wide Web has evolved into a massive Solar System Web (SSW). With these technological advancements also came a new breed of hackers, known as "Net Divers" in slang. Space travel is made relatively easy and casual; however, artificial gravity is still limited to centrifugal force. Some directed energy weapons have also been built, but ballistic and explosive weapons are principally used. In addition to that many gun models present today are widely used in the series. The series features a crew of distinct main characters. The first two introduced in the series are Spike Spiegel and Jet Black. The two pilot their former fishing trawler spaceship, the Bebop, and work as bounty hunters. As the series progresses, more characters are introduced and become members of the Bebop crew. Antagonists include a variety of bounties that the crew hunt to collect funding. Although the Bebop crew is typically broke, its members manage to keep themselves afloat financially by capturing the occasional bounty-head. The characters include: Spike Spiegel: a former member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate who is haunted by the memory of his time in the organization, namely his relationship with a mysterious woman named Julia, and his former syndicate partner, Vicious. Jet Black: a former Inter-Solar System Police (ISSP) officer and the owner of the Bebop. Once called "The Black Dog" by his fellow officers for his relentless nature, he bears a cybernetic arm as constant reminder of what happened when he rushed into trouble without looking first. Like Spike, he is haunted by the memory of a woman: Alisa, his longtime girlfriend who left him without notice. Ein: a Welsh Corgi and former lab animal identified as a "data dog" by the scientists who created him. The reason for this title is never explained, but it is suggested that he possesses enhanced intelligence, which he displays in subtle ways throughout the series. Despite his enhanced intelligence and comprehension, the rest of the Bebop crew typically fail to notice these qualities. Faye Valentine: an amnesiac awakened from a 54-year cryogenic slumber after being injured. She is tricked into assuming the debt of the man that woke her, and constantly attempts to gamble on quick cash as a solution to her debt. Her past and her real name are a mystery as the name "Valentine" was given to her by a doctor. Her history is unraveled progressively throughout the series. Edward: a young, eccentric computer genius and master hacker. Though she is a girl, there is a popular confusion as to Ed's gender due to her name and androgynous appearance. She gave herself the long and fanciful name "Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV" after running away to an orphanage, but after her father is found it is revealed later on that her real name is Françoise Appledelhi. She goes by the name Radical Edward when hacking, and commonly spends the most time with Ein. Vicious: Spike's former syndicate partner and the only recurring antagonist of the series. He is seen in several episodes grabbing for power within the organization by killing members of the organizations leadership. His relationship with Spike and Julia is displayed through flashbacks that Spike experiences, but never explained in detail. One of the most notable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its music. Cowboy Bebop has been strongly influenced by American music, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and the early rock era of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its action sequences, from space battles to hand-to-hand martial arts combat, are set and timed to music. Following the musical theme, episodes are called Sessions, and titles are often borrowed from album or song names (such as Sympathy for the Devil or My Funny Valentine), or make use of a genre name ("Mushroom Samba") indicating a given episode's musical theme. Performed by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts, a band Kanno assembled to perform music for the series, the jazz and blues themed soundtrack helps to define the show as much as the characters, writing, and even animation. Many fans find the soundtracks enjoyable to listen to as albums on their own, independent of the series. Cowboy Bebop was voted by IGN in 2006 as having the greatest soundtrack for an anime. Cowboy Bebop almost did not appear on Japanese broadcast television due to its depictions of violence. It was first sent to TV Tokyo, one of the main broadcasters of anime in Japan. The show had an aborted first run from April 3, 1998 until June 19, 1998 on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7 to 15 and 18. Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety from October 23 until April 23, 1999, on the satellite network WOWOW. With the TV Tokyo broadcast slot fiasco, the production schedule was disrupted to the extent that the last episode was delivered to WOWOW on the day of its broadcast. Cowboy Bebop won the Seiun Award in 2000. The full series has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime television network, Animax, who has also aired the series via its respective networks across Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that the movie, “Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira” (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001, and later released in the United States as “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” in 2003. In a 2006 poll by TV Asahi, Cowboy Bebop was voted 40th for Japan's all-time favorite anime. On September 2, 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of the U.S. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. It was successful enough to be broadcasted repeatedly for four years. It was rerun again in 2007. In the United Kingdom, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast in 2002 as one of the highlights of the ill-fated "cartoon network for adults", CNX. As of November 6, 2007, it is being repeated on AnimeCentral. In Australia, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast in 2002 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, and began broadcasting on ABC2, a digital free-to-air network, on January 2, 2007. In France, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during summer 2000 on Canal+. In Germany, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2003-2004 on MTV. In Poland, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast several times by Hyper and TVP Kultura. In Israel, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2001-2002 on Bip's late-night anime block. In Spain, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 1999 in Buzz, during the early 2000s in K3's 3XL.net and the summer of 2006 on Cuatro's late-night show Cuatrosfera. In Canada, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast on December 24, 2006, on Razer. In Italy, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast after November 1999 on MTV and again in 2007. In Singapore, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast on Arts Central at the 11 pm time slot, and had several scenes cut for violence and other graphic content. In Portugal, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast on SIC Radical in 2001, 2007 and started once again in May 2008. In The Netherlands, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast by TMF in 2005 Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, starting September. In Latin America, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast in 2001 on Locomotion. In The Philippines, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast on 2006, on GMA 7 (Manila's #1 TV station). A poll in the Japanese magazine Newtype USA asked its readers to rank the "Top 25 Anime Titles of All Time"; Cowboy Bebop placed second behind Neon Genesis Evangelion on a list that included such anime as Mobile Suit Gundam. In a recent poll by TV Asahi, Cowboy Bebop was 40th for Japan's Favorite Anime of 2006. The American Anime magazine Anime Insider (No. 50, November 2007) ranked the 50 best anime (available in America) by compiling lists of industry regulars and magazine staff, with Cowboy Bebop ranked as #1. In the U.S., Cartoon Network has regularly rotated Cowboy Bebop in and out of its Adult Swim block line-up several times. The network has also moved Cowboy Bebop out of its anime lineup periodically in order to show other anime features such as Read or Die and Blue Gender. T.H.E.M Anime Reviews say the series has "sophistication and subtlety that is practically one-of-a-kind" and that "puts most anime...and Hollywood, to shame." After the creation of the series, an interviewer asked Watanabe if he had any plans to create more Cowboy Bebop material. Watanabe responded by saying that he does not believe that he "should just keep on making Cowboy Bebop sequels for the sake of it." Watanabe added that ending production and "to quit while we're ahead when people still want more" is more "in keeping with the Bebop spirit." In a more recent interview from 2006 with the Daily Texan Watanabe was asked if there would ever be more Cowboy Bebop. Watanabe's answer was "Someday, maybe someday." One of the things of I knew was going to happen when I made this list was that most of the shows were going to be American, though I have included some British shows. Nevertheless, I’m an American, and I have been mostly exposed to American shows. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that American shows would be a huge bulk of the list. However, some American channels have shown shows from other countries. One is Adult Swim, and until recently, they showed anime shows on a regular basis. This first was Cowboy Bebop, and it was popular enough with the Adult Swim audiences that the channel began adding more and more Anime shows. It’s not surprising; Cowboy Bebop may just be the finest imports from Japan since their cars and videogames. It is the coolest and most visually amazing animated show to come in a long time. Shinchiro Watanabe and Keiko Nobumoto have created a show that works on so many levels. The characters just pop on the screen: the cool, graceful, and haunted Spike, the wise and easily annoyed Jet, the cunning and sexy Faye, and the whimsical Ed. The episodes are well written, switching from dramatic to suspenseful to comical at a drop of a hat, with such wonderful stories, like the hilarious episode in which Ed feeds Spike, Jet, and Faye some mushrooms and they get high and the tragic last episode in which Spike has one final battle with his archrival Viscious. The action sequences are incredibly action packed, showing how animation can do things that live action TV shows can’t do to budgets and rival those of Hollywood. And, the music, the beautiful music. The show may come from Japan, but the music is so American. Yoko Kanno manage to beautifully blend jazz, blues, rock, and even heavy metal and classical music into a unique soundtrack that is as much a part of the series as the characters themselves. And, yes, I know it’s an anime, and anime usually doesn’t get much love in America as it does in Japan. But, that’s just because most people think anime is a childish genre with wide-eyed people and incomprehensible plots. This show proves that anime can be subtle, sophisticated, and a lot better than many American shows, animated AND live-action.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 22, 2008 15:01:50 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 42 and 41, plus a recap of 100-41. Here are the hints:
Welcome from the WORLD OF TOMORROW!!!!, and the 22nd letter of the alphabet.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 23, 2008 19:44:03 GMT -5
Countdown time, Shirley. Here's number 42: 42. Futurama Genre: Animated Series, Comedy, Science Fiction. Created by: Matt Groening. Executive Producer(s): Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and Ken Keeler. Starring: Billy West (Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Dr. John A. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, and various voices), Katey Sagal (Turanga Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender Bending Rodriguez, Flexo, Elzar, and various voices), Phil LaMarr (Hermes Conrad, Dwight Conrad, Reverend Preacherbot, Ethan “Bubblegum” Tate, and additional voices), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong, Inez Wong, and additional voices), Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, Calculon, Morbo, Lrrr, Horrible Gelatinous Blob, Hedonismbot, Harold Zoid, and additional voices), Tress MacNeille (Mom, Linda (Morbo’s Co-anchor), Tinny Tim, Nd-nd, Petunia, and additional voices), David Herman (Dr. Ogden Wernstrom, Scruffy, Roberto, Fatbot, and additional voices), Frank Welker (Nibbler, Seymour, and additional voices), Kath Soucie (Cubert Farnsworth and various voices), and Tom Kenny (various voices). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 5. Number of Episodes: 80. Running Time: 22 minutes. Original Channel: FOX (1999–2003), Cartoon Network (2001-2007), and Comedy Central (2008–present). Original Run: March 28, 1999 – August 10, 2003 (FOX), March 23, 2008 – present (Comedy Central) Spinoffs: Four direct-to-DVD movies based on the show have been made: “Bender’s Big Score,” “The Beast With A Billion Backs,” “Bender’s Game” (not released yet), and “Into The Wild Green Yonder.” Matt Groening began thinking of Futurama in the mid-1990s. In 1997, he enlisted the help of David X. Cohen, then a Simpsons writer and producer, to assist in developing the show. The two then spent time researching science fiction books, television shows, and films of the past. By the time they pitched the series to FOX in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines. During that first meeting, FOX ordered thirteen episodes. Shortly after, however, Groening and FOX executives argued over whether the network would have any creative input into the show. With The Simpsons the network has no input. Groening explains, "When they tried to give me notes on Futurama, I just said: 'No, we're going to do this just the way we did Simpsons.' And they said, 'Well, we don't do business that way anymore.' And I said, 'Oh, well, that's the only way I do business.'" After negotiations, he received the same independence with Futurama. It took six to nine months to make an episode of Futurama. This long production time meant many episodes were worked on simultaneously. Each episode began with the writers discussing the story in a group. Then a single staff writer wrote an outline and then a script. Once the first draft was finished, the writers and executive producers got together with the actors to do a table read. After this script reading, the writers rewrote the script as a group before eventually sending it to animation. At this point the voice recording was also started and the script is out of the writers' hands. The animation in Futurama was done by Rough Draft Studios, which Groening insisted be used. Rough Draft receives the completed script of an episode and storyboards it into over 100 drawings. Then they create a pencil-drawn animatic with 1000 frames. From there, Rough Draft's sister studio in Korea puts together the 30,000-frame finished episode. The show was also sometimes animated overseas by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. In addition to traditional cartoon drawing, Rough Draft Studios often uses CGI for the fast or complex shots such as during the movement of spaceships, explosions, nebulae, and snow scenes among others. Most of the opening credits are rendered in CGI. The CGI is rendered at 24 fps (opposed to hand-drawn at 12 fps) and the lack of artifacts makes the animation appear very smooth and fluid. CGI characters look slightly different due to spatially "cheating" hand-drawn characters by drawing slightly out of proportion or off-perspective features to emphasize traits of the face or body, improving legibility of an expression. PowerAnimator is used to draw the comic-like CGI. The premise of the show revolves around a simple pizza delivery man who is accidentally frozen in a cryogenic chamber for a thousand years, waking in the year 3000 and having to eek out a live for himself in the future. Futurama is essentially a workplace sitcom whose plot revolves around the Planet Express delivery company and its employees, a small group that doesn't conform to future society. Episodes invariably feature the central trio of Fry, Leela and Bender, though storylines centered on the other main characters are common. The characters on the show include: Philip J. Fry: an immature, slovenly pizza delivery boy who is frozen just after midnight on January 1, 2000, reawakening on New Year's Eve, 2999. He gets a job as a cargo delivery boy at Planet Express, a company owned by his closest living relative, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. Fry is, through actions which he takes in the episode "Roswell That Ends Well", his own grandfather. Turanga Leela: the competent, one-eyed captain of the Planet Express Ship. Abandoned as a baby, she grew up in an Orphanarium believing herself to be an alien from an unknown race. She later learns that she is actually a mutant from the sewers. She used to work as a career assignment officer at the cryogenics lab where she first met Fry. She acts as Fry's primary love interest. Bender Bending Rodríguez: a foul-mouthed, hard drinking, cigar-smoking, kleptomaniacal, misanthropic, egocentric, ill-tempered robot originally programmed to bend girders for suicide booths, and is now assistant sales manager of Planet Express. He is Fry's best friend and roommate. He is also known to have a deep desire to be a folk singer. Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth: Roughly 160 years old and Fry's distant nephew and closest living relative. Farnsworth founded Planet Express to fund his mad scientist-esque experiments and inventions. At some point in the series, he clones himself to create a successor, Cubert Farnsworth, whom he treats like a son. Dr. John A. Zoidberg: a lobster-like alien from the planet Decapod 10 and is the neurotic and self-conscious staff physician of Planet Express. Although he claims to be an expert on humans, his knowledge of human anatomy and physiology is woefully inadequate. Zoidberg is basically penniless and held in contempt by virtually all. Amy Wong: an incredibly rich, blunt, spoiled and extremely accident-prone long-term intern at Planet Express. She is an engineering student at Mars University and heiress to the western hemisphere of Mars. Though born on Mars, she is ethnically Chinese, prone to frequently cursing in Cantonese, and overuses 31st century slang. Her parents are Leo and Inez. Although initially portrayed as somewhat promiscuous, she eventually develops a relationship with Kif Kroker. Hermes Conrad: the Jamaican accountant of Planet Express. A bureaucrat and proud of it, he is a stickler for regulation. Hermes is also a former champion in Olympic Limbo, a sport derived from the popular dance and similar to the track event of hurdling. He has a wife, LaBarbara, and a 12-year-old son, Dwight. Futurama is set in New New York at the turn of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. The city of New New York has been built over the ruins of present-day New York City, referred to as "Old New York". Various devices and architecture are similar to the Populuxe design. Global warming, inflexible bureaucracy and substance abuse are a few of the subjects given a 31st century exaggeration in a world where the problems have become both more extreme and more common. Numerous technological advances have been made between the present day and the 31st century. The ability to keep heads alive in jars was invented by Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in "A Big Piece of Garbage") which has resulted in many historical figures and current celebrities being present; this became the writers' excuse to feature and poke fun at celebrities in the show. Curiously, several of the preserved heads shown are those of people who were already dead well before the advent of this technology. One of the most prominent examples of this anomaly is Richard Nixon, who died in 1994. The Internet has become fully immersive and encompassing all senses even featuring its own digital world (similar to Tron or The Matrix). However, it is slow and largely consists of pornography, pop-up ads, and "filthy" chat rooms. Some of it is edited to include educational material ostensibly for youth. Television is still a primary form of entertainment. Self-aware robots are a common sight, as well as being the main cause of global warming thanks to their alcohol-powered systems. The wheel is obsolete (no one but Fry even seems to recognize the design) having been forgotten and replaced by hover cars and a network of large, clear pneumatic transportation tubes. Futurama's setting is a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing continuity errors if they serve to further the gags. For example, while the pilot episode implies that the previous Planet Express crew was killed by a space wasp, the later episode "The Sting" is based on the crew having been killed by space bees instead. The "world of tomorrow" setting is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today and to parody the science fiction genre. Earth is depicted as being multicultural to the extent where there are a wide range of human, robot, and extraterrestrial beings shown in the series who interact with the primary characters. In some ways the future is depicted as being more socially advanced than Fry's, and thus the audience's, reality. The future is often shown, though, to have many of the same types of problems, challenges, mistakes and prejudices of the present. Robots make up the largest "minority" in the series. While a few are depicted as wealthy members of the upper-class, they are often treated as second-class citizens. Most robots are self-aware and have been granted freedom and free-will. However, at times of crisis, robots may have their free-will removed when their "patriotism circuits" are activated, forcing them to serve humans or to serve in the military in times of war. Many robots live in apartments specially constructed for robots, with rooms the size of a typical coat closet and closets the size of typical rooms. Sewer mutants are mutated humans who must live in the sewers by law. They hold urban legend status and are regarded as fictional by some members of the public. Religion is still a prominent part of society, although the dominant religions have evolved. A merger between the major religious groups of the 20th century has resulted in the First Amalgamated Church, while Voodoo is now mainstream. New religions include Oprahism, Robotology, and the banned religion of Star Trek fandom. Religious figures in the series include Father Changstein-El-Gamal, the Robot Devil, Reverend Preacherbot and passing references to The Space Pope. While very few episodes focus exclusively on the religious aspect within the Futurama universe they do cover a wide variety of subjects including predestination, prayer, the nature of salvation, and religious conversion. Earth has a unified government headed by the President of Earth - Richard Nixon's head (from season 2 onwards). Earth's capital is Washington, D.C., and the flag of Earth is similar in design to the flag of the United States, with planet Earth displayed in place of the fifty stars. The Democratic Order Of Planets (D.O.O.P.) is a fictional organization in the Futurama universe which has been compared to both the United Nations and to the United Federation of Planets of the Star Trek universe. Numerous other galaxies have been colonized or have made contact by the year 3000. Mars has been terraformed and is home to Mars University as well as tribes similar to Native Americans. The heads of the past presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton and many famous, and infamous, people from our era are placed in jars. These heads are displayed in the National Head Museum. They are fed food in a similar way to fish. There are two alternative alphabets that appear often in the background of episodes, usually in the forms of graffiti, advertisements or warning labels. Nearly all messages using alternative scripts translate directly into English. The first alphabet consists of abstract characters and is referred to as Alienese, a simple substitution cipher from the Latin alphabet. The second alphabet uses a more complex modular addition code, where the "next letter is given by the summation of all previous letters plus the current letter". The codes often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages. Aside from these alphabets, most of the displayed wording on the show uses the Latin alphabet. Several English expressions have evolved since the present day. For example, the word Christmas has been replaced with Xmas (pronounced "EX-mas) and the word ask with aks (pronounced axe). According to David X. Cohen it is a running joke in the series that the French language is extinct in the Futurama universe, much like Latin is in the present. In the French dubbing of the show, German is used as the extinct language instead. Although the series utilized a wide range of styles of humor including: self-deprecation, black comedy, off-color humor, slapstick, and surreal humor; its primary source of comedy was its satirical depiction of everyday life in the future and its parodical comparisons to the present. Matt Groening notes that, from the show's conception, his goal was to take what was, on the surface, a goofy comedy and show that underneath were "legitimate literary science fiction concepts". The series contrasted "low culture" and "high culture" comedy; for example, Bender's catchphrase is the insult "Bite my shiny metal ass" while his most terrifying nightmare is a vision of a number 2, a joke referencing the binary numeral system. The series developed a cult following partially due to the large number of in-jokes it contains, most of which are aimed at "nerds". In commentary on the DVD releases, David X. Cohen points out and sometimes explains his "nerdiest joke ". These jokes included mathematical jokes, such as "Loew's -plex" (aleph-null-plex) movie theater, as well as various forms of science humor, for example, Professor Farnsworth complains that judges of a quantum finish "changed the outcome by measuring it", a reference to the observer effect in quantum mechanics. Over its run, the series passes references to quantum chromodynamics (the appearance of Strong Force-brand glue), computer science (two separate books in a closet labeled P and NP respectively, referring to the possibility that P and NP-complete problem classes are distinct), electronics and genetics (a mention of Bender's "robo-, or RNA"). The show often features subtle references to classic science fiction. These are most often Star Trek - many soundbites are used in the series as an homage but also others, such as the reference to the origin of the word robot made in the existence of a robot-dominated planet named Chapek 9, or the black rectangular monolith labeled "Out of Order" in orbit around Jupiter (a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Odyssey). Bender and Fry sometimes watch a television show called The Scary Door, a humorous pastiche of The Twilight Zone. Also, the sewer Mutants from New New York worship a nuclear warhead in reference to the film Beneath the Planet of the Apes. References to Star Trek include the use of "Classic"-series sound effects, in particular just about any door (even those that, like the swinging doors in the Slurm factory, don't slide), and some electronic devices. Much like the opening sequence in The Simpsons with its chalkboard, sax solo and couch gags, Futurama has a distinctive opening sequence featuring minor gags. As the show begins, the word "Futurama" is displayed across the screen along with a joke disclaimer such as "Painstakingly Drawn in Front of a Live Audience", "Filmed on location", "Soon to be a Major Religion", or "Dancing Space Potatoes? YOU BET!" After flying through downtown New New York and past various recurring characters, the Planet Express Ship crashes into a large screen showing a short clip from a classic cartoon. These have included clips from Looney Tunes shorts, cartoons produced by Max Fleischer, a short section of The Simpsons from a Tracy Ullman episode, and the show's own opening sequence in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings". In “Bender's Big Score,” the opening clip is from the first Futurama episode where Fry gets frozen. In most episodes, the ship physically crashes into the screen, destroying the glass and getting stuck in the process. In “The Beast with a Billion Backs,” the ship passes through the screen's glass and temporarily becomes part of the environment depicted thereon (a Futurama cartoon clip drawn in the style of Disney's Steamboat Willie). The ship and crew eventually escape this environment, crashing through the screen's glass on the way out. The Futurama theme song was written by Christopher Tyng and is based on the song "Psyché Rock" by Pierre Henry. The theme is played on the tubular bells but is occasionally remixed for use in specific episodes including a version by The Beastie Boys used for the episode "Hell Is Other Robots" in which they guest starred. When it came to deciding when the show would air, Groening and Cohen wanted Futurama to be shown at 8:30 Sunday nights, following The Simpsons. The network disagreed, opting instead to show two episodes in the Sunday night lineup before moving the show to its regular time slot on Tuesday. Beginning its second broadcast season Futurama was again placed in the 8:30 Sunday spot, but by mid-season the show was moved again. This time Futurama began airing in the 7:00 p.m. Sunday timeslot, its third position in under a year. Due to the 7:00 p.m. Sunday timeslot, the show was often pre-empted by sports and usually had a later than average season premiere. It also allowed the writers and animators to get ahead of the broadcast schedule so that episodes intended for one season were not aired until the following season. By the beginning of the fourth broadcast season all the episodes to be aired that season had already been completed and writers were working at least a year in advance. When Futurama debuted in the FOX Sunday night line-up at 8:30 p.m. between The Simpsons and The X-Files on March 28, 1999, it managed 19 million viewers, tying for 11th overall in that week's Nielsen Ratings. The following week, airing at the same time, Futurama drew 14.2 million viewers. The show was then moved to Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. Futurama's first episode airing on Tuesday drew 8.85 million viewers. Though its ratings were well below The Simpsons, the first season of Futurama rated higher than competing animated series: King of the Hill, Family Guy, Dilbert, South Park and The PJs. When Futurama was effectively cancelled in 2003, it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season. Even by the fourth season Futurama was still being aired erratically. This was parodied in the opening sequence of the last episode of Season 4 with a picture of Fry, Leela and Bender captioned, "See You On Some Other Channel." Due to being regularly pre-empted by sporting events, it became difficult to predict when new episodes would air. This erratic schedule resulted in Fox not airing several episodes that had been produced for seasons three and four, instead holding them over for the fifth season. Although Futurama was never officially cancelled, midway through the production of the fourth season, FOX decided to let it go out of production and told the writers and animators to look for new jobs. FOX's decision to stop buying episodes of Futurama led Rough Draft Studios, the animation producers, to fire its animators. Futurama was not included in FOX's fall 2003 lineup. In late 2002, Cartoon Network acquired the exclusive cable syndication rights of Futurama for a reported ten million dollars. In January 2003, the network began airing Futurama episodes as the centerpiece to the expansion of their Adult Swim cartoon block. In October 2005, Comedy Central picked up the cable syndication rights to air Futurama's 72-episode run at the start of 2008, following the expiration of Cartoon Network's contract. It was cited as the largest and most expensive acquisition in the network's history. It is currently airing every night, followed by South Park. A Comedy Central teaser trailer announced the return of Futurama March 23, 2008, which was “Bender's Big Score” divided into four episodes followed by the other three movies. The series aired on the Seven Network in Australia when the show first began but was left off-air for a few years until 2005. It was then picked up by Network Ten which aired repeats of the series until late 2007. The series is also shown on subscription based channel FOX8. Channel 10 began showing the new episodes of Futurama on June 19, 2008 which are just "Bender's Big Score" cut into half hour episodes. In the United Kingdom, repeats are broadcast on the digital channels Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three on weekends which previously aired the continuous run of seasons 1-4. Repeats were also shown on Channel 4 until late 2005. In Latin America, the show is re-run by the cable channel FOX, during prime time Monday through Friday. In Canada, certain syndicated episodes are shown on Teletoon everyday during the detour and on YTV Monday to Thursday in prime time and each day of the week at or after midnight. In Germany, all episodes were aired on ProSieben. In Malaysia, episodes of the first two seasons were originally aired on TV3, while episodes from the last two seasons were aired on 8TV after a rather long hiatus between TV3's airing of the last episode of season 2 and 8TV's airing of the first episode of Season 3. Both channels aired the show late at night, around 10:30 PM, with the appropriate ratings, as indication that the series was not suitable for minors. Nevertheless, some episodes were not aired for unknown reasons. Additionally, Futurama was also available on the Asia-wide Star World network. In Poland, the show is broadcast by Sci Fi Channel. When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes, partially stemming from the fact that the network had already revived Family Guy (its other short-lived series that ended up on Adult Swim), but not Futurama. Negotiations were already being made with the possibility of creating two or three straight-to-DVD films. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four films would be produced. On April 26, 2006, Groening noted in an interview that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies. All the original voice actors still take part in the series. In February 2007, Groening explained the format of the new stories: "[The crew is] writing them as movies and then we're going to chop them up, reconfigure them, write new material and try to make them work as separate episodes." The first movie, “Futurama: Bender's Big Score,” is written by Ken Keeler and Cohen, and includes return appearances by the Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim, Robot Santa, the "God" space entity, Al Gore, and Zapp Brannigan. It was animated in widescreen and was released on standard DVD on November 27, 2007, with a possible Blu-ray disc release to follow. Futurama: Bender's Big Score was the first DVD release for which 20th Century Fox implemented measures intended to reduce the total carbon footprint of the production, manufacturing and distribution processes. Where it was not possible to completely eliminate carbon output carbon offsets were used. They refer to the changed processes as "carbon neutral". The second movie, “The Beast with a Billion Backs,” was released on June 24, 2008. According to Rich Moore the titles of the other two movies are “Bender's Game,” and “Into The Wild Green Yonder.”
It's hard and a little unfair to compare Matt Groening's two shows: Futurama and The Simpsons. They both have their own merits: The Simpsons has been around longer and pretty much paved the way for Futurama to even be on the air. However, Futurama has in some ways equaled and surpassed The Simpsons. For one, this futuristic comedy about the bumbling employees of an intergalactic delivery company is witty, silly and completely non-sensical in just the right measure. Second, it has a lot of great characters: the lovable dufus Fry (basically, Homer Simpson if he wasn’t bald, fat, and hadn’t gotten dumber as the years went on), the confident and sexy cyclops Leela, the loud-mouth drunk robot Bender, the wise old Professor Farnsworth, the spoiled rich girl Amy, the incompetent Dr. Zoidberg, and the Jamaican bureaucrat Hermes. Hell, even the supporting characters are fantastic, whether they appear a lot (Zapp Brannigan, Kif Kroker, Richard Nixon’s head, Calculon, Hedonismbot, Scruffy) or just in one episode (most notably That 80’s Guy, who froze himself in order to cure his boneitis and then took over Planet Express and nearly sold it to Mom, only to die because he forgot to cure his boneitis; his tragic final word: “My only regret is that I had boneitis.”). It also had some great episodes that had a wide range from the hilarious (when Fry, Leela, Zapp, Kif, Amy, and Bender got stuck on a planet of giant sexy Amazon women and Fry, Zapp, and Kif were sentenced to death by “snuu-snuu,” that’s Amazon for “sex”) to the surreal (the trippy “The Sting” episode, in which Fry dies from a space bee sting (space bee’s are gigantic, if you didn’t know), but Leela can’t tell whether Fry is alive or dead due to the fact she’s been eating the hallucinogenic space honey) to the tearjerking (“Jurassic Bark,” in which Fry finds the fossilized remains of his dog Seymour and has the chance to bring the dog back but doesn’t when he learns the dog lived to the age of 15; it ends with flashbacks showing Seymour just waiting for Fry to comeback but he won’t because…I’m sorry I can’t continue because I’m crying…). It also managed to blend low brow and high brow humor: Bender usually tells people to bite his shiny metal ass (a crude insult anyone can get), but he also has nightmares of 2 (a smart joke that only people who are aware of binary, which consists only of 1’s and 0’s). However, what really sets Futurama apart from The Simpsons is two things: one, it didn’t continue long after it should have gone off the air; FOX cancelled the show after four seasons. That, in a way, was sort of a blessing because we never got to see such a great have its quality ruined by later seasons of not-as-good episodes. Though Futurama has returned for four direct-to-DVD movies, and Comedy Central may bring it back. And, that could end up happening. However, it probably couldn’t because of the second reason: its science fiction environment gives the writers a plethora of ideas to work with. For example, The Simpsons playing the Harlem Globetrotters in a game of basketball would seem a little ridiculous, but have the Globetrotters come from another planet and challenge Earth to a game of basketball on Futurama and it works. All in all, Futurama was show that was able to be funny, sweet, sad, crude, and intelligent all at the same time. It definitely deserves a spot on this list. And, if you don’t like that, then go start your own list…with blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget the blackjack and the list! I’m gonna go get some hookers.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 23, 2008 21:13:38 GMT -5
41. V Genre: Science Fiction. Created by: Kenneth Johnson. Executive Producer(s): Kenneth Johnson, Brandon Tartikoff, Daniel H. Blatt, Robert Singer. Starring: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Juliet Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Richard Herd (John), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Robert Englund (Willie), Andrew Prine (Steven), Richard Lawson (Dr. Ben Taylor), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Michael Ironside (Ham Tyler), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Peter Nelson (Brian), Sandy Simpson (Mark), Denise Galik (Maggie Blodgett), Thomas Hill (Father Andrew Doyle), Lane Smith (Nathan Bates), Jeff Yagher (Kyle Bates), Jennifer Cooke (Elizabeth), June Chadwick (Lydia), Howard K. Smith (Himself), Aki Aleong (Mr. Chiang), and Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 1, plus 2 miniseries. Number of Episodes: 2 (V), 3 (V: The Final Battle), and 19 (V: The Series). Running Time: 197 min (V), 268 minutes (V: The Final Battle), 47 minutes (V: The Series). Original Channel: NBC. Original Run: May 1, 1983 (V), May 6, 1984 (V: The Final Battle), October 26, 1984 – March 22, 1985 (V: The Series). Spinoffs: Kenneth Johnson is currently in negotiations to adapt his novel V: The Second Generation for TV. V: The original miniseries debuted in the United States on NBC on May 1, 1983, airing for a total of about 200 minutes on two nights. Series creator Kenneth Johnson has said that the story was inspired by the 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Also, several scenes from the original TV pilot resemble the Bertolt Brecht play The Private Life of the Master Race. A short story entitled To Serve Man (later adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone) had a similar theme of deceptively friendly aliens secretly cultivating humans for food. In a commentary track on the DVD release of the first miniseries, Johnson reveals that V was originally intended as a straightforward political thriller, charting the rise of a fascist movement in the United States. NBC was interested in a sci-fi hit, to capitalize on the success of films such as the Star Wars trilogy. The story remains a Nazi allegory, right down to the Swastika-like emblem used by the Visitors and their SS like uniforms. There is a Visitor youth auxiliary with obvious similarities to the Hitler Youth and Visitor broadcasts mimic Nazi era propaganda. The show's portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears a striking resemblance to stories from Occupied Europe during the Second World War with some citizens choosing collaboration and others choosing to join underground resistance movements. Where the Nazis primarily persecuted Jews, the Visitors were likewise depicted to persecute scientists, their families and anyone associating with them and distribute propaganda in an effort to hide their true identity. Some of the central characters in the initial series were from a Jewish family and the grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, frequently commented on the events of the past again unfolding. The Visitors declared martial law to control the scientists, something akin to the rise of the fascists in Germany. Later, throughout the TV series, the Resistance Network's TV news bulletins report stories of erstwhile enemies uniting in common cause against the alien occupiers, such as black and white South Africans (the series was produced when South Africa was still under apartheid). In addition, direct figure analogies are used, such as the senior Visitor scientist, Diana, who is a direct analogue of Dr. Josef Mengele. The plot of the miniseries was: Aliens arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over key major cities. They reveal themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, and are human in appearance, but require special glasses to protect their eyes and have a distinctive low resonance to their voices. Simply referred to as the Visitors, they reach out in friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals needed to aid their ailing world. In return, the Visitors promise to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accept the arrangement, and the Visitors, led by their leader John and his deputy Diana, gain considerable influence with human authorities. However, strange things are soon noted. Scientists find themselves facing increasing media hostility, and government restrictions on their activities and movements. Others, particularly those keen on examining the Visitors more closely, begin to disappear or are discredited. Noted scientists confess to subversive activities; some exhibit other unusual behavior, such as suddenly demonstrating an opposite hand preference to the one they are known to have. Journalist and TV cameraman Michael Donovan (Singer) sneaks aboard one of the Visitors' motherships and discovers that beneath their human like facade, the aliens are reptilian in nature, and carnivorous - preferring to eat live food, like rodents and birds. Donovan gets some of this on tape, but just as this exposé is about to air, the broadcast is interrupted by a Visitor announcement suddenly making Donovan a fugitive, pursued by both the police and the Visitors. Scientists around the world continue to be persecuted - both to discredit them (as the part of the human population most likely to discover the Visitors' secrets) and to distract the rest of the population with a scapegoat upon whom they could focus their fears. Key human individuals are subjected to Diana's special mind control process called "conversion", which turns them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation; others are subjects of biological experiments. Some other humans, on the other hand (including Mike Donovan's mother, Eleanor Dupres), willingly collaborate with the Visitors, seduced by their power. Daniel Bernstein, a grandson of a Holocaust survivor, joins the Visitor Youth and begins to reveal the locations of traitors to the alien cause. One teenager, Robin Maxwell, the daughter of a prominent scientist who went into hiding, is seduced by a male Visitor named Brian, who impregnates her as one of Diana's "medical experiments." A resistance movement is formed, determined to expose and oppose the Visitors as much as possible. The Los Angeles cell leader is Dr. Juliet "Julie" Parrish. Donovan is later assimilated into the group and, sneaking again into a mothership, he learns from a Visitor named Martin that the story about the needed chemicals is merely a diversion. The true purpose of the Visitors' trip to Earth is to conquer and subdue the planet, steal all of the Earth's water and harvest the human race as food, leaving only a few as slaves and soldiers/cannon fodder for the Visitors' wars with other alien races. Donovan also discovers there are dissidents among the Visitors (later known as the Fifth Column) who oppose their leader's plans. Martin promises to aid the Resistance, and gives Donovan access to an alien ship, which he quickly learns how to pilot. Soon, the members of the Resistance strike their first blows against the Visitors, while procuring laboratory equipment and weapons to carry on the fight. The symbol of the resistance is blood-red letter V's spray-painted over posters promoting Visitor friendship among humans. V: The Final Battle: The miniseries was successful enough to spawn a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which was meant to conclude the story, and also a television series in 1984-85 that continued it. Johnson left V during The Final Battle. V: The Final Battle was played out over three episodes, set several months after the events of the original miniseries. The first episode begins with a Resistance raid on a Visitor processing plant, to rescue humans who have been repackaged into food cocoons. The raid is easily thwarted at the plant perimeter, due to the Visitors' advanced armor and security measures. In the raid's debriefing at the Resistance hideout, the team bickers over how things went wrong. Robin Maxwell's pregnancy is also at an advanced stage. The rebels later get wind of a major event to be held at the Los Angeles Medical Center, where John is expected to announce a medical breakthrough - a universal cancer cure. Because of the extensive media coverage, the rebels infiltrate the hospital. However, while he can provide uniforms for the infiltration, Martin could not supply weapons because all Visitor armories were heavily guarded. The rebels scout the place and secure medical supplies while Robin seeks an abortion with Julie's help. They cancel the abortion because of potentially fatal complications to her. Meanwhile, television reporter Kristine Walsh begins to doubt her association with the Visitors, because of Mike Donovan's request to find his son, Sean, aboard the mothership and a well-known doctor's stinging criticism of her at the hospital (and sudden turn-around due to Diana's conversion). The hospital raid is a success, with Julie unmasking John's true nature. Martin and Barbara prevent the mothership from cutting off the live feed. Diana also kills Kristine after she disobeys her orders to dispel the incident as a terrorist hoax and makes an apparent call for rebellion. After a firefight inside the hospital corridors, the rebels escape with help from the Fifth Column, who have assigned a transport crew to "capture" them. However, it is a Pyrrhic victory, as Julie (who got separated during the escape) is captured during her own escape from the hospital. The episode ends with Julie undergoing Diana's conversion process. In episode 2, two people, Ham Tyler and associate Chris Farber, join the Resistance. Ham reveals the existence of an international resistance force that can supply armor-piercing ammunition and the Visitors' apparent plan to attack the hideout. The fiasco of the previous evening forces Diana to have the scene re-enacted under heavy security, to be passed off as the actual broadcast. The Visitors storm the rebel hideout, but the rebels escape with the help of Tyler and Farber and further advance warning from Ruby, who's now working at their security headquarters as a cleaner. They relocate to an old western movie studio. Julie undergoes Diana's conversion process, but proves to be tough to crack even under the advanced stages. After she successfully pleads to Diana to stop the procedures, Mike Donovan bursts in and attempts to shoot Diana, but Jake kills him in time. It is later revealed that the man appearing to be Mike is a Fifth Column agent in disguise. Because of the danger of Fifth Column infiltration (especially now with the arrival of Squadron Commander Pamela), Martin suggests that all major prisoners be transferred from the mothership to the security headquarters on the ground for further protection. Mark's fiancée, Maggie Blodgett, who has seduced collaborator and Visitor Youth member Daniel Bernstein, brings this information to the rebels, who see the opportunity and rescue Julie. Daniel, however, kills Ruby after she cuts the power for the laser fencing, a critical part of the operation. Once again in the ranks of the Resistance, Julie tells the others of a 30-day plan to steal all the water from southern California by means of a water pipeline to a Visitor mothership. With the aid of devices that shift their voices and make them similar to the Visitors, the rebels scout the facility and prepare to destroy it. Tyler questions Julie's loyalty after her conversion, but she responds firmly and retains command in front of the others; when alone, however, she feels weak and unsure about herself, and finally seeks comfort in Mike's arms. At the same time, Maggie confronts Mark over their relationship in light of her undercover frequentation of Daniel Bernstein. They make peace, and he proposes to her. The attack on the water facility goes as planned, and after placing experimental explosive charges of Ham's devise, a firefight ensues between the rebels and the aliens. Mark is wounded and stays back to cover the escape, sacrificing his life - something that Maggie would grieve over. Later on, Diana and Stephen appear in a news bulletin along with Sean, whom Stephen had Brian take out of stasis per a favor from Eleanor. It is a clear invitation for Mike to surrender to them in exchange for his son. Mike does so and is taken on a mothership, while Ham and Julie bring Sean to safety. The rebels relocate to an old city jail afterwards. A Fifth Column agent named Oliver visits Mike at his cell and offers a suicide pill to prevent him from divulging information about both the Resistance and the Fifth Column, in light of Diana's ultra-potent truth serum. In the nick of time, however, Jake kills Oliver and Diana injects Mike with the drug. The effects take place immediately, with Mike forced to compromise Martin who is present; Martin then tries to shoot Diana, but she escapes with the knowledge that Martin is a Fifth Columnist. Donovan and Martin then escape themselves into the mothership's airshafts. The episode ends when Robin goes into labor and via a caesarian section gives birth to fraternal twins - a human looking girl with a forked tongue, and a reptilian boy. In episode 3, The first few days after Robin's delivery prove to be challenging for her and the others. The male child dies while the baby girl, Elizabeth, begins to grow at a rapid rate. Julie and Robert's analysis of the male child's corpse reveals certain bacteria that only affected the boy despite his proximity to Elizabeth in the uterus. Encouraged by the sudden development, the duo decides to culture the germs as a potential weapon. Mike Donovan and Martin escape by skydiving out of the mothership and Martin goes into hiding with other ground-based Fifth Columnists. After Mike reaches the jail, the team discusses testing the bacterium, now called the "Red Dust," but reject Ham's suggestion of using Willie as a guinea pig. Instead, the rebels capture Brian at the Bernstein house and frame Daniel. Stephen retaliates by sending Daniel off to be processed as food. The team locks up Brian, and Robin (with Elizabeth in tow) visits him in the middle of the night. However, the family reunion is short, as Robin seeks revenge by throwing a vial of the Red Dust into Brian's holding chamber, with fatal results. Father Andrew Doyle, the team's resident priest, carries Elizabeth off to safety while the others look at the outcome. While Ham and Mike mull over capturing a Visitor Youth member to be used as a human subject, Julie enters the chamber and proves the dust is non-lethal to humans. Father Andrew brings Elizabeth to Diana, who makes them feel welcome, but later murders the priest after reading the Bible; the Bible makes Diana realize she is 'vulnerable.' The danger of compromise forces the rebels to evacuate and regroup at a coastal lighthouse complex, where more Red Dust stocks are produced. Ham and Mike also get into a small but physical argument over delivering the stocks to other resistance groups when a vaccine was not yet complete, one that would protect the Fifth Columnists. Martin later asks Mike to stop producing the toxin, revealing the Visitors contingency plan: using their ships as doomsday devices if the situation was lost. Despite the team's debate over whether to attack or not, Elias successfully appeals to take a chance and possibly save the world. The planning sessions take place, but Julie notices Sean overhearing the details. She then tells Mike of the possibility that Sean was converted before the exchange, which Ham later confirms. Sean escapes the hideout to warn the Visitors, but since the original plan of using USAF planes to spray the toxins was compromised, the rebels would use hot-air balloons instead. Martin and a number of Fifth Column members arrive at the complex aboard a Visitor tanker vehicle, which will carry a stock of Red Dust for dispersal aboard the mothership. They are later administered with a vaccine for the Red Dust. The raid begins in earnest and Sean's outdated information leads a bulk of the Visitor forces to secure all airbases for an attack that never arrives. The tanker strike team manages to steal aboard the mothership, where Mike closes all security feeds as the rest of the team pump the toxin into the ventilation system. Robert, Ham, and Chris lead the assault on the Visitor security headquarters. Red Dust mortar blasts eliminate the defenders with no human casualties. Desperate to escape, Stephen kills Eleanor, but Ham takes him down long enough to douse his face with a bag of Red Dust. The balloons' mass dispersal of Red Dust around the world will allow the deadly bacteria to multiply in the Earth's ecosystem. The Visitor forces evacuate Earth. Diana activates the doomsday device aboard the Los Angeles ship (after shooting John, who did not want any part of it) while Mike, Julie, Elias, and Barbara are pinned down by Visitor troops in a ventilation tunnel. The Red Dust begins to circulate, killing more soldiers. Martin joins up with them as they face Diana at the bridge, where Barbara starts to disarm the auto-destruct machine. The rebels and Visitors evacuate the ship while Martin brings it out of orbit. Elizabeth steps up and finally stops the countdown using unknown powers. Diana escapes after telepathically reminding Julie of her conversion session. Martin brings the mothership back to Earth. V: The Series: After V: The Final Battle, a TV show based on both miniseries was made. It was called V, but it is usually called V: The Series to avoid confusion with the original miniseries. Shortly after her ship's capture by the Resistance, Diana escapes in a shuttle but is pursued by Donovan. The two engage in combat in the atmosphere, and Donovan successfully shoots her down and, after a short fight, captures her. One year after the day when the Red Dust was deployed, now the international holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. When Diana is finally put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, Science Frontiers, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, at the behest of its CEO Nathan Bates, arranged for Ham Tyler and his security firm to publicly "assassinate" Diana on her way to the trial and take her to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A. After this is done, Nathan offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for helping to solving problems such as disease and environmental failure on Earth by providing Visitor technological information. Donovan and Martin, having witnessed her supposed assassination, sense something isn't right and pursue Tyler's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana dead. Before Martin can kill her, Diana is able to overpower him and steal his pistol. She forces him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth and then shoots him, affecting her escape to the Southwest Tracking Station. Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to make the Visitor Fleet return moments before his death, and Donovan sets off on foot. Donovan meets Tyler and agree to pursue Diana together. Attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle arrived from a new fleet hidden behind the Moon, and Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of the Earth. The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan who has used the power vacuum of the collapse of the government and authorities to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups, but cannot use their Red Dust super weapon, due to toxic long-term effects it will have on the Earth. However, 50 percent of the planet remains safe from Visitor occupation due to the Red Dust bacterium. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and is now looking 18-years-old, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom and eventually leads her to control the destiny of either race and decide the outcome of the conflict. The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise, as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on DVD in 2004. That same year, Kenneth Johnson announced plans to produce a sequel to the first V miniseries, but one that would disregard both The Final Battle and the subsequent weekly series. In October 2004, Kenneth Johnson made it known that NBC had decided it wanted a remake of the original V miniseries, rather than a sequel. The possibility of a sequel to the original would remain open but would be contingent on the success of the remake. This may have been reversed, however, as Johnson wants a filmed version of the book V: The Second Generation to be released sometime in the future, even though no network has greenlit the project as of March 2008. I know what you’re thinking, “You idiot! V was a miniseries, not a TV show! That doesn’t count!” Well, true, V was a miniseries, but it had a sequel and was turned into a TV show! So, therefore, it counts! HAHAHAHA!!!! However, even if V hadn’t been turned into a weekly series, I still would have put it on the list. You see, the miniseries use to be a huge part of TV. There was a time when these sprawling epics aired on a regular basis, and a lot of them were just as good as weekly TV shows. The genre has produced some of TV’s grandest and most watched epics. And, V was one of the best. It was quite different from other miniseries. While most of them took place in the past, from the Roman Empire (I, Claudius) to the Civil War (North And South) to feudal Japan (Shogun) to the Wild West (Lonesome Dove) to World War II (The Winds Of War), V took place in the present day and had a huge science fiction plot. In fact, it was science fiction at its moralistic and creepy best; even though on paper, giant fascist lizards from outer space, it sounds like something you'd see on Mystery Science Theater 3000. But this parable of tolerance is far more complex and frightening than it seems. V was a chilling allegory on Nazism disguised as a really cool story about lizard-like aliens. Dressed as friendly humans in bright red jumpsuits, the ''Visitors'' said they ''came in peace.'' However, they really wanted to drain Earth's water supply and eat all our rodents. Their occupation soon took on fascist overtones, complete with martial law and a youth corps used to expose those who didn’t submit. Just in case you still don't get the point, their insignia looks suspiciously like a swastika. The first two-part miniseries shrewdly provided glossy entertainment with a moving Holocaust subtext and even ended with the human rebels failing to eradicate the aliens. And, that first miniseries was so popular that viewers returned en masse the next year when NBC resolved the cliff-hanger (the non-scaly side wins, naturally) with V: The Final Battle. And that was popular enough to warrant the creation of weekly TV series. Plus, it gave us some of TV’s grossest moments, like lizard queen Diana (Jane Badler), still disguised as a sultry brunet human, unhinging her jaw and stuffs an entire guinea pig in her hideously elongated piehole and the squirm-inducing scene of Robin Maxwell (Blair Tefkin) giving birth of a pair of half human/half lizard twins, a human looking girl with a forked tongue and a reptilian boy. And, you still may dismiss this selection, but I don’t really care. Because, while you may ignore the importance of the miniseries, I will not. And, really the miniseries cannot and should not be ignored.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 23, 2008 21:15:27 GMT -5
Okay, here are previous 60 TV shows:
100. Saved By The Bell 99. The Real World 98. Rowan And Martin’s Laugh-In 97. The Beverly Hillbillies 96. The Venture Bros. 95. The Brady Bunch 94. Dynasty 93. Hollywood Squares 92. Bonanza 91. Batman 90. Happy Days 89. Taxi 88. Family Ties 87. The Office (U.S.) 86. Bewitched 85. WKRP In Cincinnati 84. Oz 83. The Odd Couple 82. Survivor 81. Gilligan’s Island 80. Freaks And Geeks 79. The Abbott And Costello Show 78. Beverly Hills 90210 77. My So-Called Life 76. Pee-Wee’s Playhouse 75. Everybody Loves Raymond 74. Deadwood 73. Lost 72. The Gong Show 71. The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show 70. The Office (U.K.) 69. The Incredible Hulk 68. King Of The Hill 67. General Hospital 66. Friends 65. Angel 64. Arrested Development 63. Battlestar Galactica 62. Mystery Science Theater 3000 61. Homicide: Life On The Street 60. Batman: The Animated Series 59. Good Times 58. Wiseguy 57. The Jeffersons 56. Twin Peaks 55. SCTV 54. ABC’s Wide World Of Sports 53. The Wonder Years 52. NYPD Blue 51. The Sopranos 50. The Price Is Right 49. Star Trek: The Next Generation 48. St. Elsewhere 47. Sanford And Son 46. Moonlighting 45. Magnum, P.I. 44. The Dick Van Dyke Show 43. Cowboy Bebop 42. Futurama 41. V
Tomorrow, numbers 40 and 39. Here are the hints:
Both shows are have the lead star's name in the title: one a sitcom, the other a sketch show.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 24, 2008 19:21:44 GMT -5
Countdown time, people. Here's number 40: 40. The Carol Burnett Show Genre: Variety, Sketch Comedy. Created by: Unknown. Executive Producer(s): Joe Hamilton. Starring: Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, Tim Conway, and Ken Berry, Steve Lawrence, Dick Van Dyke. Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 11. Number of Episodes: 278. Running Time: 54 minutes. Original Channel: CBS. Original Run: September 11, 1967 – March 29, 1978. Spinoffs: Mama’s Family, a sitcom based on Vicki Lawrence’s character Thelma Harper. The popular variety show made the stars household names with such sketches as "As the Stomach Turns", "Went with the Wind" (a parody of Gone with the Wind featuring a scene with Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara in the dress made from a window curtain, complete with the curtain rod), "Carol & Sis", "Mr. Tudball" and "Mrs. Wiggins", "The Family" (which would later spin off into a show called Mama's Family), "Nora Desmond" (Burnett's send-up of Gloria Swanson's character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard), and "Stella Toddler." A frequent repeated segment was "Kitchen Commercials", in which cast members parodied TV commercials that drove a woman (Burnett) crazy. It had frequent, high recognition guest stars. The long-running show was frequently nominated for Emmys, and won three times. A unique feature of the show consisted of a question and answer segment involving the audience in CBS Studio 33 and Carol Burnett. Burnett usually did this for about 3-4 minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett would ask for the lights in the audience to be turned up ("Let's bump up the lights...") and then randomly pick audience members who raised their hand to ask her a question. This informality was possible due to the design of Studio 33; cameras were to the left and right of the stage with one below in the pit and one suspended, so the actors were very close to the audience. Sample question from young woman in audience: "Have you ever taken acting lessons?" Carol: "Yes, I have." Audience member: "Do you think it did any good?" The show was rehearsed for three to four hours each day until the Friday tapings, when two recordings were made. As there were only two recordings, if an actor flubbed a line in both takes, the error appeared in the broadcast, giving the show some immediacy. Pick ups were exceptions, and usually only used for musical numbers. Vicki Lawrence was the only cast member, other than Burnett, to remain with the series for its entire run. Tim Conway, though well remembered for his appearances on the show, did not become a full-time cast member until 1975. Harvey Korman left the show prior to its final season; he was temporarily replaced in the fall of 1977 by Dick Van Dyke. Original cast member Lyle Waggoner left the series in 1974 to pursue a dramatic acting career and the next year was cast in Wonder Woman. Burnett went on to star in movies, write a Broadway play, and continues to make appearances. Conway and Korman traveled to do comedy routines all over the country. Vicki Lawrence had a U.S. #1 hit record in 1973 ("The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia") and went on to star in several shows of her own (Mama's Family, the NBC daytime edition of Win, Lose or Draw, and her short-lived talk show, Vicki) and continues to perform around America writing and performing comedy sketches. The comedy sketches of the show were reedited into freestanding programs; the resulting show enjoyed success for many years in syndicated reruns (as Carol Burnett and Friends). In the early 2000s, certain full-length episodes of The Carol Burnett Show were released on VHS and DVD by Columbia House on a subscription basis (now discontinued). Guthy-Renker released another DVD collection, The Carol Burnett Show Collector's Edition, which is still being sold to this day. Following repeats of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS from June to August 1978, 4 new shows were aired between August and September 1979 on ABC as Carol Burnett & Company, just prior to the beginning of the regular fall season and plans were announced for this to become an annual event but it did not. NBC aired a comedy anthology called Carol & Company between March 1990 and July 1991. CBS brought back The Carol Burnett Show for another run in the fall of 1991; new regulars included Meagen Fay and Richard Kind (brought over from the NBC show), and Chris Barnes, Roger Kabler and Jessica Lundy. Only nine episodes of this revival were aired. In January 1993, the cast of The Carol Burnett Show got together for a 2-hour reunion special, The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion featuring several clips of the show's best moments from 1967-78 with the gang reminiscing about their time together on the show. In the fall of 2001, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence reunited for a new special broadcast entitled The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers, which consisted mostly of bloopers and outtakes from the series. The program was a major ratings success; the media credited its timing, being broadcast not long after the September 11, 2001 attacks, with contributing to its success. In May 2004, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner made another reunion special, The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights!, featuring one of Carol's favorite ongoing bits, turning up the house lights and then taking questions from members of the studio audience. Maybe it’s something about red hair. Like fellow carrottop comedienne Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett was her generation’s queen of comedy, and every week from 1967 to 1978 on her eponymous CBS variety show, she proved herself worthy of the throne. Pratfalling, slow-burning, yodeling like Tarzan, Burnett clowned tirelessly alongside crazy cronies Tim Conway, Lyle Waggoner, Harvey Korman, and Vickie Lawrence, and Ken Berry, Steve Lawrence, and Dick Van Dyke in later stints. Even now, the sketches’ sublime siliness lingers: the overwrought faux soap “As The Stomach Turns”; Burnett as inept secretary Mrs. Wiggins and Conway as her long-suffering boss Mr. Tudball; Korman and Burnett playing the endlessly bickering Ed and Eunice Higgins with Vicki Lawrence as Eunice’s mother Thelma; and a “Gone With The Wind” spoof in which Burnett’s Scarlett O’Hara makes her dress from drapes complete with the curtain rod. Comic veteran Burnett assembled a tight, remarkably stable ensemble of regulars and put out a consistent show that owed as much to personality as brilliant writing. The show relied on funny accents, slapstick, and just-plain-shtick (there's no reason Mrs. Wiggins' sharpening her pencil should have been so funny; it just was); but what carried it was the good-feeling chemistry between the cast and the versatility of the star, a charming redhead who packed a mighty Tarzan yell. And, yes, Burnett and company usually dissolved into laughter at their own gags, but who cares? Can you blame them? Everyone from Carol on down seemed to be having just as good a time as the audience was. From the unpretentiously friendly way she answered audience questions at the start of every show to her trademark earlobe tug at the end of the hour (a way of saying hello to her grandmother), the comedienne’s warmth infused every song and sketch. No wonder that during its 11 season run, one of the longest variety show stints in history, the show won 25 Emmys. Well before “family entertainment” became a TV cliché, The Carol Burnett Show created exactly that for more than a decade; and every week, the show left us so glad we’d had this time together.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 24, 2008 19:57:19 GMT -5
39. The Bob Newhart Show Genre: Sitcom. Created by: David Davis and Lorenzo Music. Executive Producer(s): Michael Zinberg, David Davis, Lorenzo Music, Tom Patchett, and Jay Tarses. Starring: Bob Newhart (Robert “Bob” Hartley), Suzanne Pleshette (Emily Hartley), Bill Daily (Howard Borden), Peter Bonerz (Jerry Robinson), Marcia Wallace (Carol Kester-Bondurant), Jack Riley (Eliot Carlin), Florida Friebus (Lillian Bakerman), and John Fiedler (Emil Peterson). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 6. Number of Episodes: 142. Running Time: 30 minutes. Original Channel: CBS. Original Run: September 16, 1972 – April 1, 1978. Spinoffs: None, though Bob Newhart would go on to start in the show Newhart and Bob, which had similar comedy and styles to his first show. The show was created by David Davis and Lorenzo Music. The popular CBS series starred Newhart as Robert Hartley, a Chicago psychologist. The show divided most of its action between the character's home life and work, with Suzanne Pleshette as Hartley's supportive (though occasionally sarcastic) wife Emily, and Bill Daily as their friendly, but inept neighbor, airline navigator Howard Borden. At the medical complex where Hartley had his psychology practice, Marcia Wallace played his joke-loving receptionist, Carol Kester-Bondurant, and Peter Bonerz appeared as Jerry Robinson, an orthodontist who shared the office suite. Two of Hartley's more memorable regular patients were the exceptionally mean-spirited Elliot Carlin (Jack Riley) and the milquetoast ex-Marine Emil Peterson (John Fiedler). Most of the situations involved Newhart's character playing straight man to his wife, colleagues, friends and patients. The show ranked in the Top 20 for its first three seasons (it followed the popular Mary Tyler Moore Show), but schedule changes eventually pushed it to #53 by its final season (1977-78). The show was nominated for an Emmy as "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1977. Newhart was nominated for Golden Globes as "Best TV Actor - Musical/Comedy" in 1975 and 1976. In 2004, TV Land commemorated the show with a statue of Newhart at Navy Pier. The statue was originally placed in front of 430 Michigan Avenue, Dr. Hartley's building but was moved. Newhart and Pleshette reprised their roles from the show for the surreal finale of Newhart in 1990, in which it was revealed that the entire later Newhart series had been just Bob Hartley's dream. The entire cast assembled for the one-hour clip show The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary in 1991. On the show, one of the things they did was analyze Bob's dream. During the discussion, the Hartleys' neighbor, Howard Borden (Bill Daily), recalled, "I had a dream like that once. I dreamed I was an astronaut in Florida for five years", as scenes from I Dream of Jeannie featuring Daily were shown. The "Hartleys" were also hosts for a segment of the CBS Television Fiftieth Anniversary broadcast. The first four seasons of the show have been released on Region 1 DVD by 20th Century Fox. When CBS asked Bob Newhart to star as a shrink, the stand-up comic had two reservations. First, he wanted to play a psychologist not a psychiatrist: “A psychologist treats people who are overweight or fear flying. I didn’t want to make fun of schizophrenics and manic-depressives.” Second, he wasn’t interested in having kids: “I didn’t want to play ‘Oh, look at the pickle Dad got into.’ Then the kids straighten it all out and say, ‘Dad, we love you, but boy, you’re stupid.’” Both were smart decisions. As Bob Hartley, the married-without-children Chicago psychologist, Newhart found the perfect vehicle for his ultra-low-key humor. The finest reactor in TV history, Newhart was surrounded by lunatics some of them patients (Jack Riley’s misanthropic Eliot Carlin), others coworkers (Marcia Wallace’s man-chasing Carol Kester) and neighbors (Bill Daily’s clueless Howard Borden). And, Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette had great chemistry; and the Bob and Emily marriage was indelible that Pleshette reappeared as Emily and in bed next to Bob on the surreal finale of Bob’s next sitcom Newhart. In the middle of this madness stood Bob, an Everyman with whom everyone could identify. “Wives say, ‘Oh, that’s my husband,’ husbands say, ‘Oh, that’s what I do,’ and the younger generation says, ‘That’s my dad,’” Newhart explains of his enduring appeal. Of course, there is one other factor: “‘Hi, Bob’ had something do with [it],” he admits of the drinking game (you chug when you hear that phrase). “But I don’t want to go down in history for that.” That shouldn’t be a problem since Newhart has been on two great TV shows. SPEAKING OF those two shows, there is the big debate: which was better: The Bob Newhart Show or Newhart? Both were excellent comedies, with essentially the same laid-back, stammering protagonist. (Another why it seemed only natural that Bob should end the second show waking up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette.) It's basically like asking which was better: the 1970s or the 1980s? Well, I'll say it: the '70s. Or rather, that decade's introspective, self-help-focused ethos, and his 1970s sitcom's psychiatrist's office setting, were a slightly better match with Newhart's sophisticated, droll, talky comedy of neurosis. So I award the nod to Hartley, his talking cures that never quite cured anyone and his windy Windy City patients. (And, yes, that means Newhart won’t be on the list; Sorry, Larry, Darryl and Darryl.)
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 24, 2008 19:58:33 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 38 and 37. Here are the hints:
a reptilian man's aerial carnival, and what people with families are.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 25, 2008 21:01:34 GMT -5
And now for something completely different. Here's number 38: 38. Monty Python’s Flying Circus Genre: Sketch comedy. Created by: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Executive Producer(s): Unknown. Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Country of Origin: United Kingdom. Number of Seasons: 4. Number of Episodes: 45. Running Time: 30-40 minutes. Original Channel: BBC1 Original Run: October 5, 1969 – December 5, 1974. Spinoffs: TV: Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (1972), two 45-minute specials made by WDR for West German television; Monty Python's Personal Best (2006), six one-hour specials, each episode presenting the best of one member's work; Movies: “And Now For Something Completely Different” (1971), “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (1979), “Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl” (1982), and “Monty Python's The Meaning of Life” (1983); albums: Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970), Another Monty Python Record (1971), Monty Python's Previous Record (1972), The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973), Monty Python Live at Drury Lane (1974), The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Monty Python Live at City Center (1976), The Monty Python Instant Record Collection (1977), Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (1980), Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983), Monty Python's The Final Rip Off (1988), Monty Python Sings (1989), The Ultimate Monty Python Rip Off (1994), The Instant Monty Python CD Collection (1994), Monty Python's Spamalot (Broadway version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Tim Curry as King Arthur) (2005), The Hastily Cobbled Together Album (unreleased); Theatre: Monty Python's Flying Circus, three sketch based stage shows comprising mainly of material from the original television series; Monty Python's Spamalot, The musical 'lovingly' ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Not the Messiah, an oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez and commissioned by The Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Books: Monty Python's Big Red Book, Monty Python's Life of Brianscrapbook, and The Brand New Monty Python Book. It all started in college. Michael Palin and Terry Jones first met at Oxford University, while John Cleese and Graham Chapman met at Cambridge. Eric Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Cleese and Chapman. Cleese met Terry Gilliam in New York while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus (originally entitled A Clump of Plinths). Chapman, Cleese and Idle were all members of the Footlights, which at that time also included the future Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden as well as Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister). During the time of Idle's presidency of the Club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were also members. Recordings of Footlights revues (called "Smokers") at Pembroke College include sketches and performances by Idle and Cleese. They are currently kept in the archives of the Pembroke Players, along with tapes of Idle's performances in some of the college drama society's theatrical productions. Variously, the Python members appeared in or wrote, or both, for the following shows before being united for Monty Python's Flying Circus. In particular, The Frost Report is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles: I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (radio) (1964–1973) [Cleese, cast member & writer; Idle and Chapman, writers], The Frost Report (1966–1967) [Cleese, cast member & writer; Idle, writer of Frost's monologues; Chapman, Palin, & Jones, writers], At Last the 1948 Show (1967) [Chapman & Cleese, writers & cast members; Idle, writer], Twice a Fortnight (1967) [Palin & Jones, cast members & writers], Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967–1969) [Palin, Jones, & Idle, cast members & writers; Gilliam, animation; Bonzo Dog Band: musical interludes], We Have Ways of Making You Laugh (1968) [Idle, cast member & writer; Gilliam, animation], How to Irritate People (1968) [Cleese & Chapman, cast members & writers; Palin, cast member], The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969) [Palin & Jones, cast members & writers], Doctor in the House (1969) [Cleese & Chapman, writers]. Several of these also featured other important British comedy writers and/or performers of the future, including Marty Feldman, Jonathan Lynn, David Jason and David Frost, as well as members of other significant upcoming comedy teams, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker (a.k.a. the Two Ronnies), and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie (a.k.a. the Goodies). Following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set (originally intended to be a children's program) with the adult demographic, ITV offered Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam their own series together. At the same time Cleese and Chapman were offered a show by the BBC, having been impressed by their work on The Frost Report and At Last The 1948 Show. Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin and invited him to join the team. With the ITV series still in pre-production Palin agreed and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn suggested that Gilliam could provide animations for the projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold. The Pythons had a very definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were all great admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore on Beyond the Fringe, and had worked on Frost, which was similar in style. They also enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show Not Only... But Also. However, one problem the Pythons perceived with these programs was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall quality of the sketch. They decided that they would simply not bother to 'cap' their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in" - they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan, recording his new series Q5 (1969). Not only was the program more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy, Milligan would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "did I write this?"). It was clear that their new series would now seem somewhat less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate further. After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called "Beware of the Elephants", which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled "Christmas Cards", and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently." Since Cleese, Chapman and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the program, it was Jones, Palin and Gilliam who became largely responsible for the presentation style of the Flying Circus series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another). Each day of writing started at 9am and finished at 5pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair of writers isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days of working in this configuration, they would all join together with Gilliam, critique their scripts and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found the idea to be humorous, it would be included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a writer, rather than an actor desperate for screen time. When the themes for sketches were finally chosen, Gilliam had carte blanche to decide how to bridge them with animations, armed with his camera, scissors, and airbrush. While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were clearly responsible for different elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g. the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character ends up intimidating or hurling abuse at another, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams). Asked about this, Cleese has confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's." Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship). The title Monty Python's Flying Circus was partly the result of the group's reputation at the BBC. Michael Mills, BBC's Head of Comedy, wanted their name to include the word "circus", because the BBC referred to the six members wandering around the building as a circus (in particular "Baron Von Took's Flying Circus" after Barry Took, who had brought them to the BBC). The group added “flying” to make it sound less like an actual circus and more like something from World War I. “Monty Python” was added because they claimed it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, the sort of person who would have brought them together. Titles considered instead of Monty Python’s Flying Circus include: 1 2 3; A Horse, a Bucket, and a Spoon; A Horse, A Spoon and A Basin; Baron Von Took’s Flying Circus; Bun, Whackett, Buzzard, Stubble, and Boot; Cynthia Fellatio's Flying Circus; Gwen Dibley’s Flying Circus; Handlebar Moustache Huzzah; It’s...; Owl-Stretching Time (which became the title of the show's 4th episode); Sex and Violence; The Horrible Earnest Megapode; The Nose Show; The Plastic Mac Show; The Toad-Elevating Moment; The Venus De Milo Panic Show; The Year of the Stoat; Them; Vaseline Parade; and Vaseline Review. Flying Circus pioneered some innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open, in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements. An example of this is the "It's" man: Palin in Robinson Crusoe garb, making a tortuous journey across various terrains, before finally approaching the camera to state, "It's...", only to be then cut off by the title sequence and the theme song. On several occasions the cold open would last until mid show, after which the regular opening titles would run. Occasionally the Pythons would attempt to trick viewers by rolling the closing credits halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar globe logo used for BBC continuity, over which Cleese would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer. On one occasion the credits ran directly after the opening titles. They also experimented with ending segments by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera (breaking the fourth wall), or introducing a totally unrelated event or character. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's "Colonel" character, who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming "far too silly." Another favourite way of ending sketches was to drop a cartoonish "16-ton weight" prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum, or a knight in full armour (played by Terry Gilliam) would wander on-set and hit characters over the head with a raw chicken, before cutting to the next scene. Another innovative way of changing scenes was when John Cleese would come in as a radio commentator and say "And now for something completely different". This line has come to be thought of as the troupe's 'catchphrase'. The Monty Python theme music is The Liberty Bell, a march composed by John Philip Sousa, which was chosen among other reasons because the recording was in the public domain. The use of Gilliam's surreal, collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style. Many of the images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from Victorian illustrations and engravings. The giant foot which crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is in fact the foot of Cupid, cut from a reproduction of the Renaissance masterpiece Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time by Bronzino. This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, have come to be considered the visual trademarks of the series. The Pythons built on and extended the great British tradition of cross-dressing comedy. Rather than dressing a man as a woman purely for comic effect, the (entirely male) Python team would write humorous parts for women, then don frocks and makeup and play the roles themselves. Thus a scene requiring a housewife would feature one of the male Pythons wearing a housecoat and apron, speaking in falsetto. These women were referred to as pepperpots. While this accentuated the humour, it was not, in itself, the joke (had a woman played the role, the lines would have had the same comic effect). Generally speaking, female roles were only played by a real woman (usually Carol Cleveland) when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Eric Idle for this). In some episodes and later Monty Python's Life of Brian they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men (in the stoning scene). In contrast to many other sketch comedy shows, Flying Circus made up new characters for each new sketch and had only a handful of recurring characters, many of whom were involved only in titles and linking sequences, including: The “It’s” man (Palin): a disheveled hermit with torn clothes and a long, unkempt beard who would appear at the beginning of the program, often after performing a long or dangerous task, and introduce the show by just saying, “It’s...” before being abruptly cut off by the opening titles, which started with a Terry Gilliam animation sprouting the words 'Monty Python’s Flying Circus'. "It’s" was an early candidate for the title of the series. Julius Caesar: Chapman as the famous Roman Emperor appearing randomly in the midst of a sketch to interrupt it, or as a main character of a parody, such as in the "Mouse Problem" sketch. A BBC continuity announcer in a dinner jacket (Cleese), seated at a desk, often in highly incongruous locations, such as a forest or a beach: his line, “And now for something completely different,” was used variously as a lead-in to the opening titles and a simple way to link sketches (though Cleese is best known for it, the first time the phrase appeared in the show it was actually spoken by Idle in episode 2 where he introduced a man with three buttocks). It eventually became the show’s catch phrase, serving as the title for the troupe’s first movie. In Season 3, however, the line was shortened to simply: "And now..." The Gumbies: a group of slow-witted individuals identically attired in gumboots (from which they take their name), high-water trousers, braces, and round, wire-rimmed glasses, with toothbrush moustaches and handkerchiefs on the tops of their heads (a stereotype of the English, working class holidaymaker). They hold their arms awkwardly in front of them, speak slowly in loud, low voices punctuated by frequent grunts and groans, and have a fondness for bashing bricks together. They often complain that their brains hurt. All of them are surnamed 'Gumby' (D.P. Gumby, R.S. Gumby, etc.). Even though all Pythons played Gumbies at one point, Michael Palin is the best-known for it, followed by John Cleese. An armored knight (Gilliam) carrying a raw chicken: the knight would end sketches by hitting characters over the head with the chicken. A regular during the first series, with another appearance in the third. A nude organist (played in his first two appearances by Gilliam, afterward by Jones): this character provided a brief fanfare to punctuate certain sketches (most notably on a sketch poking fun at Sale of the Century) or as yet another way to introduce the opening titles. Mr. Eric Praline: an eccentric, disgruntled man who often wears a Pack-a-Mac, played by Cleese. His most famous appearance is in the "Dead Parrot" sketch. His name is only mentioned once on-screen, during the “Fish Licence” sketch of the episode entitled “Scott of the Antarctic”, but his attire (together with Cleese's distinctive, nasal performance) distinguishes him as a recognizable character who makes multiple appearances throughout the series. "Fish Licence" also reveals that he has multiple pets of wildly differing species, all of them named “Eric.” A perverted upper-middle-class mustachioed man (Idle): this character often appears bothering other, more uptight, characters (usually Jones). He is characterized by his constant nudging gestures and tone of conversation; cheeky innuendo. His most famous appearance is in Nudge Nudge, his initial sketch, though he appears in several later ones too, such as ruining a romantic evening between a man and a woman. Biggles (Chapman, and in one instance Jones): a WWI pilot. Derived from the famous series of fiction stories by W. E. Johns. So-called 'pepperpots': Screeching middle-aged, lower-middle class housewives played by the Pythons in frocks, engaging in surreal and inconsequential conversation. The Pythons played all their own women, unless the part called for a younger, more glamorous actress (in which case usually Carol Cleveland, but occasionally Connie Booth, would play that part). “Pepperpot” refers to what the Pythons believed was the typical body shape of middle-class British housewives, as explained by John Cleese in “How to Irritate People”. The only two that were ever given names (besides an animated one called Mrs. Cut-Out) were Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion, played by Cleese and Chapman. Luigi Vercotti (Palin): a mafioso entrepreneur and pimp, accompanied in his first appearance by his brother Dino (Jones). His most notable appearances are as Ron Obvious's manager, and as the owner of La Gondola restaurant. With his brother, he attempts to talk the Colonel into having them protect his Army base. Brief black-and-white stock footage, lasting only two or three seconds, of middle-aged women sitting in an audience and applauding: the film was taken from a Women’s Institute meeting. Richard Baker: a well-known BBC newsreader of the 1970s, who appeared occasionally in the third series of the show to deliver short newscasts on ridiculous subjects. Another well-known BBC newsreader, Peter Woods, had a similar role in the fourth series. Arthur Pewtey (Palin): a mild-mannered and polite but ultimately dull man who appears most notably in the Ministry of Silly Walks and Argument Clinic sketches. His sketches all take the form of an office appointment with an authority figure (usually played by Cleese, but occasionally Chapman), which are used to parody the officious side of the British establishment by having the professional be contained in the most bizarre field of expertise. The Spanish Inquisition: three cardinals who would burst into a previously unrelated sketch whenever their name was mentioned. Their catchphrase was "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!". They consist of the Cardinal Ximinez (Palin), Cardinal Fang (Gilliam), and Cardinal Biggles (Jones). Frenchmen: Cleese and Palin would sometimes dress in stereotypical French garb (striped shirt, tight pants, beret) and speak in garbled French, with incomprehensible accents. They had one fake moustache between them, and would stick it onto the other person's lip when it was his turn to speak. Usually, the Frenchmen gave lectures, such as to explain the flying sheep (from episode 2, "Sex and Violence") and "La Marche Futile". Timmy Williams (Idle): A flamboyant celebrity type that talks with a Paul Lynde-like whine and constantly has people making movies or doing interviews around him. He's often made out to be the centre of attention, and was applauded whenever he appeared. Nightclub Host (Palin) - An American-style man who wears a red suit and is always smiling. He linked sketches by introducing them as nightclub acts, and was occasionally seen after the sketch, passing comment on it. In one link, he was the victim of the aforementioned armored knight's assault with a chicken. Some other characters have proven very memorable, despite the fact that they appear in only one or two episodes, such as “The Colonel”, played by Chapman, who interrupts sketches when things become too silly, or when the Pythons rip off the army's slogan (and when non-BBC broadcast repeats need to be cut off for time constraints in syndication) and Ken Shabby, played by Palin, who starred in his own sketch in the first series and in the second series made a few brief cameos giving his thoughts on aftershave lotion and even his own religion. Two characters that were often mentioned but never seen were Ann Haydon-Jones and her husband Pip, who are mentioned in several sketches, most famously losing a seat to Engelbert Humperdinck in the Election Night Special sketch. Some of the Pythons' targets seemed to recur far more frequently than others. Reginald Maudling, a contemporary Conservative politician, was singled out for perhaps the most consistent ridicule. The contemporary Secretary of State for Education and Science, future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was occasionally mentioned (in particular, a reference to her brain being in her shin received a hearty laugh from the studio audience). Then-US President Richard Nixon was also frequently mocked, as was Conservative party leader Edward Heath, another later PM. The British police are also a favourite target of theirs; they often act extremely bizarrely or stupidly, are depicted as drag queens, abusive with their legal powers, and they usually yell out "What's all this, then?" Some policemen have become recurring characters, such as Chief Constable Pan-Am. Regular supporting cast members included Carol Cleveland, Connie Booth, Neil Innes (in the fourth series), and The Fred Tomlinson Singers (for musical numbers). Although there were few recurring characters, and the six cast members played many diverse roles, each had some character traits that he had perfected. Graham Chapman: Chapman was well known for his roles as straight-faced men, of any age or class (frequently an authority figure such as a military officer, policeman or doctor) who could, at any moment, engage in “Pythonesque” maniacal behaviour and then return to their former sobriety (see sketches such as "An Appeal from the Vicar of St. Loony-up-the-Cream-Bun-and-Jam", “The One-Man Wrestling Match”, "Johann Gambolputty" and “The Argument Clinic"). He was also skilled in abuse, which he brusquely delivered in such sketches as "The Argument Clinic" and "Flying Lessons". His dignified demeanor was put to good use when he played the straight man in the Python features Holy Grail (as King Arthur) and Life of Brian (as the title character). John Cleese: Cleese usually played ridiculous authority figures. Terry Gilliam claims that Cleese is the funniest of the Pythons in drag, as he barely needs to be dressed up to look hilarious (see the Mr. and Mrs. Git sketch). Cleese is also well known for playing very intimidating maniacs (see the “Self-Defense Class"). His character of Eric Praline, the put-upon consumer, featured in some of the most popular sketches, most famously in “Dead Parrot”. One star turn that proved most memorable was the “Ministry of Silly Walks”, where he worked for the eponymous government department of that name. The sketch features some rather extravagant physical comedy from the notoriously tall, and loose-limbed, Cleese. Despite its popularity, particularly amongst American fans, this proved to be one sketch which Cleese himself particularly disliked, feeling that many of the laughs it generated were cheap and that no balance was provided by what could have been the true satirical center point. Other Cleese trademark is his over-the-top delivery of abuse, particularly his screaming of the line, "You bastard!" Cleese also very often played foreigners, with rather ridiculous accents, especially Frenchmen (most of the time together with Palin). Sometimes this is extended to the usage of actual French or German (such as "La marche futile" (end of the "Ministry of Silly Walks"-sketch , "The funniest joke in the World" or "Hitler in Minehead"), but still with a very heavy accent (or impossible to understand, as for example Hitler's speech). Terry Gilliam: Many Python sketches were linked together by the cut-out animations of Terry Gilliam, including the opening titles featuring the iconic giant foot that became a symbol of all that was “Pythonesque.” Gilliam’s unique visual style was characterized by sudden and dramatic movements and errors of scale set in surrealist landscapes populated by engravings of large buildings with elaborate architecture, grotesque Victorian gadgets, machinery, and people cut from old Sears Roebuck catalogues, supported by Gilliam’s airbrush illustrations and many famous pieces of art. All of these elements were combined in incongruous ways to obtain new and humorous meanings in the tradition of surrealist collage assemblies. The surreal nature of the series allowed Gilliam’s animation to go off on bizarre, imaginative tangents. Some running gags derived from these animations were a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman who appeared over the tops of buildings shouting, “Dinsdale!”, further petrifying the paranoid Dinsdale Piranha, and The Foot of Cupid, the giant foot that suddenly squashed things. The foot is appropriated from the figure of Cupid in Agnolo Bronzino’s “An Allegory of Venus and Cupid.” Other memorable animated segments include the killer cars, Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, the carnivorous houses, the old woman who cannot catch the bus, the rampage of the cancerous black spot, and a giant cat that stomps its way through London, destroying everything in its path. The animation that received the most viewers' complaints was from the fourth series, in the episode How Not To Be Seen. A hill appears with three crosses silhouetted against the setting sun to the sound of a harmonium playing in a minor key. The camera slowly zooms in to reveal that it is, in reality, three telegraph poles. The animation was cut out for American broadcasts during the show, however, at the end of the episode when the show is played in one whole minute the pieces of the edited animation can be seen. This is also true for the 1999 A&E DVD version of the show. Initially only hired to be the animator of the series, Gilliam was not thought of (even by himself) as an on-screen performer at first. However, the others felt they owed him something and so he sometimes appeared before the camera, generally in the parts that no-one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or involved uncomfortable costumes). The most recurrent of these was a knight in armour who ended sketches by walking on-set and hitting another character on the head with a plucked chicken. Gilliam also played a man with a stoat through his head, Cardinal Fang in The Spanish Inquisition sketch and a hotel clerk in The Cycling Tour episode. Despite (or, according to Cleese in the DVD commentary for Life of Brian, perhaps because of) an obviously deficient acting ability in comparison to the others, he soon became distinguished as the go-to member for the most obscenely grotesque characters. Eric Idle: Idle is perhaps best remembered for his roles as a cheeky, suggestive, slightly perverted, upper middle class “playboy” (see sketches such as “Nudge Nudge"), a crafty, slick salesmen (see the “Door-to-Door Joke Salesman” “Encyclopedia Salesman,” and the shop keeper who loves to haggle in Monty Python’s Life of Brian). He is acknowledged as 'the master of the one-liner' by the other Pythons. He is also considered the best singer/songwriter in the group, for example writing and performing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from The Life of Brian. Though certainly not reaching Jones' level in drag, Idle was, along with Palin, arguably the most feminine-looking of the Pythons. He often played female characters in a more straight-forward way, only altering his voice slightly, as opposed to the falsetto shrieking used by the others. His appearances as upper-class, middle-aged females are his most notable. Idle was the only member of the Pythons who wrote his sketches alone (without counting Gilliam being the sole contributor to ideas for the linking cartoons). The rest of them usually wrote in pairs (Palin/Jones and Cleese/Chapman). Terry Jones: Although all of the Pythons played women, Terry Jones is renowned by the rest to be 'the best Rat-Bag woman in the business'. His portrayal of a middle-aged housewife was louder, shriller and more dishevelled than that of any of the other Pythons (see “Dead Bishop” sketch or his role as Brian's mother Mandy in Life of Brian, Mrs. Linda S-C-U-M in “Mr. Neutron” or in "Spot The Brain Cell," or as the restaurateur in “Spam"). He also often played upper-class reserved men, such as in the famous “Nudge, Nudge” sketch and the "It's A Man's Life" sketch, and incompetent authority figures (Harry "Snapper" Organs). Generally, he deferred to the others as a performer, but proved himself behind the scenes, where he would eventually end up pulling most of the strings. Michael Palin: While all of the Pythons excel at comic acting, Michael Palin was regarded by the other members of the troupe as the one with the widest range, equally adept as a straight man or wildly over the top character. He portrayed many working-class northerners, often portrayed in a disgusting light (see “The Funniest Joke in the World” sketch, or the “Every Sperm Is Sacred” segment of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life). On the one hand, he played weak-willed, put-upon men such as the husband in the Marriage Guidance Counselor sketch, or the boring accountant in the “Lion Tamer” sketch. However, he was equally at home as the indefatigable Cardinal Ximinez of Spain in The Spanish Inquisition sketch. Another high-energy character that Palin portrays is the slick TV show host, constantly smacking his lips together and generally being over-enthusiastic (see the “Blackmail sketch") but with an underlying hint of self-revulsion (as when, in one sketch, he wipes his oily palms on his jacket, makes a disgusted face, and then continues). One of his most famous creations was the shopkeeper who attempts to sell useless goods by very weak attempts at being sly and crafty, which are invariably spotted by the customer (often played by Cleese) because the defects in the products are inherently obvious (see the “Dead Parrot”, the “Cheese Shop"); his spivvy club owner, Luigi Vercotti, in the “Piranha Brothers” and “Army Protection Racket” is another classic variant on this type. Palin is also well known for his leading role in The Lumberjack Song. He also often plays heavy-accented foreigners (mostly French (as in "La marche futile") or German ("Hitler in Minehead")), usually alongside Cleese. In one of the last episodes, he even delivers a full speech, first in English, then in French, then in German (with an even heavier accent). Despite his wide range, Palin is the Python who probably played the fewest female roles. This is perhaps due to the suggestion that Palin in drag was a more convincing woman than the rest. (Among his portrayals of women are: The queen in the Michael Ellis Episode, Debbie Katzenberg the American in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life or as an idiot's wife in the Idiot in rural society sketch) The troupe’s best-known sketches include: Argument Clinic, Dead Parrot, The Lumberjack Song, Nudge Nudge, Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit, How Not To Be Seen, The Ministry of Silly Walks, Spam, The Funniest Joke in the World, The Bishop, Cheese Shop, The Spanish Inquisition, The Restaurant Sketch, and Upper Class Twit of the Year. John Cleese was reportedly unhappy with the use of scatological humour in Python sketches. The final episode of the third series of the show included a sketch called ‘Wee-Wee Wine Tasting’, which was censored following the BBC's and Cleese’s objections. The sketch involves a man taking a tour of a wine cellar where he samples many of the wine bottles' contents, which are actually urine. Also pulled out along with the ‘Wee-Wee’ sketch (for reasons unknown) was a sketch where Cleese had hired a sculptor to carve a statue of him. The sculptor (Chapman) had made an uncanny likeness of Cleese, except for that his nose was extremely long, almost Pinocchio size. The only clue that this sketch was cut out of the episode was in the “Sherry-Drinking Vicar” sketch, where, towards the back of the room, a bust with an enormously long nose sits. It is unlikely that these sketches will be released on DVD or broadcast on television, although copies of the scripts can usually be found on the Internet. And, there are clues as to what was deleted in the episode. For example, the clue for the 'Wee-Wee' sketch is when Michael Palin is seen popping his head out of a barrel and spitting out liquid. The clue for the 'Revolting Cocktails' sketch was a strange animation link by Terry Gilliam in where forest animals (and a nude man) were slaughtered and made into a Safari Snowball. Some material originally recorded went missing later, mostly because of censorship. Sometimes it was just part of a sketch, such as the use of the word “masturbation” in the Summarize Proust sketch or “What a silly bunt” in the Travel Agent sketch (which featured a character who has a speech impediment that makes him pronounce "C"s as "B"s), first muted, later cut out entirely. Some sketches were deleted in their entirety and were only recently recovered. One such sketch is the Political Choreographer Sketch, wherein a Conservative Party spokesman (Cleese) delivers a party political broadcast before getting up and dancing, being coached by a choreographer (Idle), and being joined by a chorus of spokesmen dancing behind him. The camera passes two Labour Party spokesmen practicing ballet, and an animation featuring Edward Heath in a tutu. Once deemed lost, a tape of this sketch, broadcast from a Buffalo, NY TV station, has turned up and can be seen on YouTube. Another is the "Satan" animation following the "Cartoon Religion" piece and preceding to "How Not To Be Seen," which had been edited out of the official tape. A single frame of the animation can be seen at the end of the episode, wherein that particular episode is repeated in fastforward. A B&W 16mm film print has turned up showing the animation in its entirety, and can also be seen online. At least two references to cancer were censored, both during the second season. In the sixth episode (It's A Living or School Prizes), Carol Cleveland's narration of a Gilliam cartoon suddenly has a male voice dub "gangrene" over the word cancer (although the word "cancer" was used and unedited when the animation appeared in the movie And Now for Something Completely Different. Another reference was removed from the Conquistador Coffee Campaign sketch in the second season's eleventh episode How Not to Be Seen, although a reference to leprosy remained intact. A restored Region 2 DVD release of Season 1 was released on April 16, 2007, with no additional features. Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese finally left the Flying Circus at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show. He furthered this with the claim that only two Cleese-and-Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts. He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, increasingly difficult to work with. According to an interview with Eric Idle, "It was on an Air Canada flight on the way to Vancouver, when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom." The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" series before calling a halt to the program in 1974. The name "Monty Python's Flying Circus" appears in the opening animation for series 4, but in the end credits the show is listed as simply "Monty Python". Despite his official departure from the group, Cleese supposedly made a (non-speaking) cameo appearance in the fourth series, but never appeared in the credits as a performer. Several episodes do credit him as a co-writer since some sketches were recycled from scenes cut from the Holy Grail script. Although Cleese stayed for the third series, he claimed that he and Chapman only wrote two original sketches (“Dennis Moore” and “Cheese Shop"), whereas everything else derived from previous material. Nevertheless, the series still contains plenty of memorable moments. Either the third series, or the fourth series, made without Cleese, are often seen as the weakest and most uneven of the four series, by both fans and the Pythons themselves. However, with the fourth series the Pythons started making episodes into more coherent stories which would be a precursor to their films, and featured Terry Gilliam onscreen more. While the first three series contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after only six. Neil Innes and Douglas Adams are notable as the only two non-Pythons to get writing credits in the show: Innes for songs in episodes 40, 42 and 45 (and for contributing to a sketch in episode 45), and Adams for contributing to a sketch about a doctor whose patients are stabbed by his nurse, in episode 45. Innes frequently appeared in the Pythons' stage shows and can also be seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and (briefly) in Life of Brian. Adams had become friends with Graham Chapman, where they later went to write the failed sketch show pilot Out of the Trees. Two episodes were produced in German for WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) — both were titled Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (the literal German translation of the English title). The first episode, advertised as Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus: Blödeln für Deutschland, was produced in 1971, and performed in German. The second episode, advertised as Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus: Blödeln auf die feine englische Art, produced in 1972, was recorded in English and later dubbed in German. The original English recording was transmitted by the BBC in October 1973. The final episode of Series 4 was recorded on November 14, 1974, and broadcast on December 5. In 1975 the series was first broadcast in the United States and soon gained a cult following. Ron Deveiller, an executive from PBS television station KERA in Dallas, Texas, found some of the episodes on a shelf when searching for programming for his station. He watched one, then another, and before he was done he had acquired the entire series to put on the air. The series was eventually aired on PBS stations across the country, and by this chance event Python invaded America. It was an instant hit, rapidly garnering an enormous loyal cult following nationwide that surprised even the Pythons themselves, who did not believe that their humour was exportable without being tailored specifically, even without a language barrier. A couple of sketches ("Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker") aired in 1974 on the NBC series ComedyWorld, a summer replacement series for The Dean Martin Show. When several episodes were broadcast by ABC in their “Wide World of Entertainment” slot in 1975 the episodes were re-edited, thus losing the continuity and flow intended in the originals. When ABC refused to stop treating the series in this way, the Pythons took them to court. Initially the court ruled that their artistic rights had indeed been violated, but it refused to stop the ABC broadcasts. However, on appeal the team gained control over all subsequent US broadcasts of its programs. The case also led to them gaining the rights from the BBC once their original contracts ended at the end of 1980 (a unique arrangement at the time). At several stages during and after the television series, the members of Monty Python embarked on a series of stage shows. These mostly consisted of sketches from the series, but also included other famous sketches that had preluded them, such as the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, which Cleese and Chapman had originally written, and performed, for At Last the 1948 Show. It subsequently became part of the live Python repertoire. The shows also included songs from collaborator Neil Innes. Recordings of three of these stage shows have subsequently appeared as separate works: Monty Python Live at Drury Lane (aka Monty Python Live at the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane), released as their fifth album in 1974; Monty Python Live at City Center, released in 1976; and Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, which is the most famous one, released as a film in 1982. In 2005 a troupe of actors headed by Rémy Renoux, translated and 'adapted' a stage version of Monty Python’s Flying Circus into French. Usually the original actors defend their material very closely, but given in this case the 'adaptation' and also the translation into French (with subtitles), the gang supported this production. The adapted material sticks reasonably close to the original text, mainly deviating when it comes to ending a sketch, something the Python members themselves changed many times over the course of their stage performances. Language differences also (understandably) occur in the lyrics of several songs. For example, ‘sit on my face’ (which, translated into french would be “Asseyez-vous sur mon visage") becomes 'come in my mouth'. Reviews: BBC Online News The Times Online If not for the efforts of five Britons and one American animator, paid for by the BBC and imported by PBS, nerds the world over would still have to impress each other by quoting the periodic table of the elements. But I should start at the beginning. It was 1969, and the staid British Broadcasting Corporation fancied itself read for something completely different: they began airing Monty Python’s Flying Circus. How could the BBC have known what it was getting itself into? Never before and never since has there been anything remotely like that free-form amalgam of parody, satire, music, drag, animation, and unabated silliness that was the Flying Circus. Staring a six-member troupe that conjoined five august Oxbridge theatrical talent with one way-out American, the Flying Circus twitted the starchy drawing-room manners to which much of England clung in the 1960s and 1970s (quite literally: See “The Upper-Class Twit Of The Year Contest”). Monty Python made erudition cool by tearing out the final stones in the Hadrian's wall between high and low culture, showing that Sartre references and "botty" jokes could live together in hilarious sin. Some of the best material spoofed the BBC’s standard repertoire of sepulchral-toned news programs and droning nature shows (“The Larch. The…Larch”). Other skits tweaked historical events and figures (who would have expected the Spanish Inquisition, let alone Oscar Wilde, to show up in sketch comedy?). And, a good portion was total non-sequitur absurdity (A fish slapping dance). But, every Python fan has his or her own pet bits: Terry Jones’s nude organist, Eric Idle’s insinuating pest (“Nudge Nudge”), Michael Palin’s signing lumberjack, and John Cleese’s masterfully deadpan Mr. Teabags from the Ministry of Silly Walks all left indelible impressions. None of this could have possibly held together were it not fro the Yankee Terry Gilliam’s surreal, lumpy, often rather icky cartoons. And, it was quite amazing that such absurd British humor would find success in America, but it did when a PBS station in, of all places, Texas began airing the show. Monty Python’s Flying Circus soon caught on and became very popular and is still holds up today. And, the main reason the show's droll, Dadaist sketches hold up so well decades later because they focus on the timeless: philosophy, the class system and, of course, the eternal issue of transvestitism in the lumber industry. And, yes, sometimes Monty Python went a bit too far into the Department of Grotesque (one cannibalism themed episode was never fully rebroadcast in England). But for those who delighted in playing spot the loony, Monty Python’s could never have gone far enough.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 25, 2008 22:00:21 GMT -5
37. Married…With Children Genre: Sitcom. Created by: Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. Executive Producer(s): Michael G. Moye, Ron Leavitt, Katherine Green, Stacie Lipp, Richard Gurman, Ellen L. Fogle, Arthur Silver, Kim Weiskopf, Russell Marcus, Vince Cheung, Pamela Eells, and Ben Montanio. Starring: Ed O'Neill (Al Bundy), Katey Sagal (Peggy Bundy), Christina Applegate (Kelly Bundy), David Faustino (Bud Bundy), David Garrison (Steve Rhoades), Amanda Bearse (Marcy Rhoades D’Arcy), and Ted McGinley (Jefferson D’Arcy). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 11. Number of Episodes: 262. Running Time: 22 minutes. Original Channel: FOX. Original Run: April 5, 1987 – June 9, 1997. Spinoffs: Several spinoffs were planned: a spinoff featuring Steve Rhodes, a spinoff featuring Al’s group NO MA’AM, a spinoff featuring Kelly Bundy, and three spinoffs that had theirs pilots as episodes of Married…With Children: Top Of The Heap (the only one that actually got made), Radio Free Trumaine, and Enemies. And, there have been several remakes, the most notable one being Unhappily Ever After, which was created by Married’s co-creator Ron Leavitt. There have also been remakes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Married…With Children was created by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye. Their idea for the show was to take The Cosby Show and do the exact opposite. In fact, the original title was to be Not The Cosby Show. The show follows the lives of Al Bundy, a once-glorious high school football player turned hard-luck salesman of women's shoes; his wife, Peggy, a tartish, uneducated housewife with a large red bouffant hairdo, 1960s clothes, and funny walk caused by wearing high heels; Kelly, Al and Peggy's pretty, promiscuous, dim-witted daughter; and Bud, their unpopular, girl-crazy, intelligent son (and the only Bundy who ever attended college). Their neighbors are the upwardly-mobile Steve and Marcy Rhoades. (Marcy later marries Jefferson D'Arcy.) Most storylines involve a scheming Al being foiled by his cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. His rivalry and loathing of Marcy also play a significant role in most episodes. The creators of the show named the "Bundy" family after their favorite wrestler King Kong Bundy, though some fans mistakenly believed that the name was derived from serial killer Ted Bundy. King Kong Bundy once appeared on the show as Peg's hick inbred uncle Irwin, and again appeared as his wrestling persona, since "NO MA'AM" (National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood, a fictional club depicted on the show) were big fans of the wrestler. Here is a profile of the main characters: Al Bundy: The head of the Bundy family, Al (Ed O'Neill) is doomed to fail in all aspirations because of the 'Bundy curse.' Once a promising fullback for fictional Polk High School (his proudest moment in life was scoring four touchdowns in a single game), he was on his way to college on a scholarship until he impregnated his girlfriend, married her, broke his leg, and ended up a shoe salesman at 'Gary's Shoes' in the 'New Market Mall.' Al often spends time attempting to re-capture his glory days, but is usually undermined in spectacular fashion by bad luck and poor judgment. He considers his family to be the cause of his failures, and his resentment of them (and fear of having sex with his wife) provides much of the show's humor. However, Al is still devoted to them, given that he protectively beats up Kelly's boyfriends, once threatened a male stripper that "if my wife loses anything in your pants, so will you," once gave his entire paycheck to Bud to enjoy his 18th birthday at the "nudie bar", and holds down a lousy job to put food on the table (occasionally!). Despite his yearning for "the touch of a beautiful woman," he always passes on those rare temptations, once explaining, "I actually kinda like my family." He frequents "nudie bars" and strip joints with his friends. The only thing that seems to consistently put him in the mood for his wife is watching her do manual labor, which virtually never happens. It is mentioned in a Season 5 episode, aired in 1990, that Al is 43. Al has extremely severe foot odor, prefers the escapism of television and bowling over his dysfunctional family, and life of drudgery and starvation (as Peg refuses to cook, she claims that she is allergic to fire, despite the fact that she smokes); and is often seen in his trademark couch-potato pose — seated on the sofa with one hand stuck under the waistband of his pants. The foot odor is not his only health problem; once in 1993, he had a bad case of dandruff. He also has terrible teeth, as noted in the episode "Tooth or Consequences," where his extremely poor dental hygiene (green, black, bleeding, and loose teeth amongst them) leads to a trip to the dentist with typical bad luck results. This also happened to be the episode where Peggy made one of her few dinners and Al was unable to eat because his entire head was wrapped in gauze from his dentist visit. His dentist felt he may be able to save a few of his teeth but told his assistant he would need a drop cloth for the floor. Al's favorite television series, the fictional Psycho Dad, was a source of joy and entertainment that Al seemingly, at times, wanted to emulate. He would hum the words to the theme song, and pretend to "shoot" his fictional gun while watching the show. Much like Al, "Psycho Dad" was tormented by his family, and was stated to kill his wife and get revenge on his children in the opening credits and during various fictional "airings" of the episode, though no video was ever shown. His other joys were Westerns, often John Wayne films, most notably "Hondo," until Peg's family ruined his recording of the movie by taping over it with a song dedicated to her. He has also referenced "Shane" when the clan ruined his enjoyment of that movie. Al also has his "faithful" 1971 Dodge Dart that invariably had failed brakes, constant break-downs, and numerous other problems associated with its age. At the time of the fourth season at least, Al was still paying it off, despite it being over 20 years old, and by the eighth season, had passed one million miles. Al's house number in Deerfield, IL, a suburb of Chicago, is 9764. The producers originally wanted to cast comedian Sam Kinison as Al Bundy. However, they ultimately chose not to, due to the profaneness of Kinison's comedy routines. Kinison would later play Al's guardian angel in the episode "It's a Bundyful Life," spoofing Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The producers also considered Michael Richards for the role. Peggy Bundy: Margaret "Peggy" Bundy (née Wanker) (Katey Sagal) is Al's very lazy high school drop-out housewife. She refuses to cook or clean the house, and prefers looking for new clothes to washing them. She does not even think of having a job. During the day, she likes to watch all the daytime talk shows, sitting on the beloved family couch, and eating tons of bonbons (without getting fat). Her favorite TV shows are Oprah and The Phil Donahue Show, but she also enjoys watching the Home Shopping Network. Peggy is a red-head with a bouffant hairdo, and usually wears 1960s, and later, 1970s-styled fashion with skin tight pants and shirts, and Stiletto heels, which make her walk in a unique way. Peg was a cigarette smoker in early seasons, but soon quit. In tune with Peggy's character, it was revealed in the fourth season that she did not graduate high school like she thought, failing to meet a half-credit in home economics. She got her diploma, but only by stealing Kelly's final exam, and tricking her into going to summer school. She continually spends what little money Al makes on everything from expensive clothes to useless junk, even stealing from her children to get extra cash. Her maiden name is Wanker, and her family hails from the fictitious rural Wanker County, Wisconsin, where "As Einstein put it, everyone's relative." At Peg and Al's high school reunion, her rival muttered, "Peg...Peggy Wanker...Leave a tip, don't bother to thank her." What is never made clear is how she managed to go to high school with Al when her parents apparently never left Wanker County. The choice of the word wanker, is likely to be a private joke, since in British English, the word "wank" is a highly offensive term for masturbation, and "wanker" is often used as a strong insult, applicable either to an inadequate or obnoxious person. Despite her inappropriate behavior, she generally appeals to men, including Al whenever she does work. Like Al, she would never cheat on her partner, but unlike Al, enjoys marital sex. She does not seem to mind her husband ogling other women, reading pornographic magazines, or going to strip joints, most likely because she does the same things herself with other men. Her enthusiasm has caused some of the male strip joints she visits to establish the "Bundy rule" -- where women can no longer go into the back rooms to meet the dancers. During Season 6, Katey Sagal got pregnant in real-life, so it was written into the show. However, Katey suffered a miscarriage, so in true Dallas fashion, the writers made the whole storyline into one of Al's nightmares. Katey was pregnant again twice during the series' run, but instead of writing her pregnancies into the show, the producers either used camera shots from above the stomach, or wrote episodes without the character of Peggy, explaining her absence by having her set out in search of her missing father, and only occasionally calling home. The producers originally wanted Roseanne Barr to play Peggy Bundy, but she declined, and the producers cast Katey Sagal, who came up with Peg's final appearance, wanting to satirize the TV housewives of the '60s and '70s. Kelly Bundy: Kelly (Christina Applegate) is the older child in the Bundy family, born on approximately November 27, 1972 or 1973 or sometime before February 19, as noted in "Peggy Turns 300," where Kelly says her birthday is in February, but erroneously refers to herself as an "Aquarium" instead of an Aquarian (Aquarius). "Pumpkin," as Al often calls her, is a promiscuous bimbo and stereotypical "dumb blonde." She may have inherited her behavior from her mother, known as "The Big Easy" in high school. Peg has attempted to convey some of her other "values" to Kelly, most notably advice on how to avoid working. During the series' run, Kelly got progressively more stupid. Initially, she was not the stereotypical dumb blonde bimbo she eventually becomes. In one episode, a flashback to Kelly's childhood reveals her to have been a prodigious reader until she banged her head during a road trip, instantly changing her personality to prefer focusing on her "shiny, shiny shoes." The show hints at her amazing intrinsic intellectual ability, which only exhibits itself on those rare occasions when she is not preoccupied with her social standing or with the opposite sex. For instance, she can predict the next number drawn on a roulette wheel, but only after letting her mind go blank. When properly motivated, she is able to solve complex mathematical equations, such as her calculation of the trajectory to shoot garbage bags into the D'Arcys' yard from a homemade catapult. It has been demonstrated that she can absorb a limited amount of information very well, but will forget something that she learned in the past once her limit is reached. In one episode, where Kelly appeared on a sports game show, sports-junkie Al takes advantage of that trait in order to train her for the show, filling her head with various (and somewhat useless) sports trivia. However, the plan backfires when Kelly forgets the answer to a high school football question, ironically about Al. Kelly is also known to display excellent hand-eye coordination when playing pool or performing archery. Kelly's comedic function tends to include blatant displays of naiveté and ignorance, with the typical response by the family of willfully allowing her to remain ignorant. Bud, in particular, likes to sow misconceptions in her mind. For example, she asks Bud to help her with her book report on Robinson Crusoe, but ends up reviewing Gilligan's Island instead. Her family is surprised to learn that she earned her high school diploma in 1990 -- but when she receives her diploma through the mail after finishing summer school, she asks her mother to read it to her. She then worked as a model and waitress. She had become a bottle-blonde at an early age at her mother's encouragement after a boy at school liked a natural blonde more than Kelly. (Years afterward, neither can remember their own natural hair-color.) She is obsessed with boys, hair bleach, and the telephone. Kelly was not allowed to have sleepovers or birthday parties from age eight to age sixteen, thanks to an experience she had at age eight, where "the judge wanted to try her as an adult." Though she often pokes fun at her younger brother, Bud, for being an under-developed, pubescent horndog, she usually seems to be proud of him whenever he manages to get an attractive date. On at least one occasion, she has also avenged Bud by humiliating a girl that humiliated him. For a short time, Bud is her official agent, entitled to 80% of her earnings. Kelly is very fond of her pets, even when unable to sufficiently care for them. Buck, the family dog, was generally considered to be hers, and she was the most upset when he died. However, when Buck was to be neutered, Al (not wanting to have Buck fixed) says "Buck is Bud's dog, and we have to get Bud's permission." When Peg asks Bud if it is okay to neuter "his" dog, Bud does not seem to care and simply says, "Sure." Her favorite comic strip is Garfield. Her less-than-stellar reading skills led to many comedic situations in which she would read the Garfield comic aloud, mispronouncing lasagna as "luh-SAG-nee." She also watches cartoons, such as Looney Tunes, under the impression that it is a nature show. Bud Bundy: Bud Franklin Bundy, (David Faustino) is the second child, born on January 22 around 1974. In the first season, Bud is revealed to be in fifth grade, making him 10 or 11, but in subsequent seasons, he was aged to be within one year of Kelly, graduating high school in 1991. He was named after Al's favorite beer, Budweiser. However Kelly has called him "Buddrick" before. The first word Bud spoke was "hooters." He believes himself to be attractive, sexy, and smooth, but often is typically caught in sexually humiliating scenarios. He is also shorter in stature than his sister, and a lot shorter than his mother. He does not appear to know how to impress women upon meeting them, and is often rejected. It is unclear when Bud lost his virginity, as it was depicted that he may have bedded women as far back as age 14, but in the fourth season, it is mentioned that he is still a virgin. Later in the series, he manages to have one-night-stands, including one with his cousin's fiancée, played by Joey Lauren Adams. He tries to get girls with the help of various alter-egos, including street rapper 'Grandmaster B,' a persona often ridiculed by his family with the epithets 'Bed-wetter B', grasshopper B, 'Butt Wagger B', 'Cross-Dresser B', 'Grandma B', 'Grand Bastard B', 'Grand Marshall B', etc. (Faustino has actually been featured in a few rap albums in real-life, and he also manages a nightclub.) Another alter-ego is 'Cool Bud', Bud's sexual, suave side with which he eventually 'merges', prompting him to become more 'cool'. Bud has been known to fail at romance, as those attracted to him are often undesirable (such as fat hotel guests, dowdy college librarians, and male hotel workers). Bud also takes an interest in Marcy; when Steve leaves her, he actively pursues her. After playing a trick on Kelly to prove her stupidity, Kelly proves not to be so foolish by making Bud and Marcy falsely believe they spent the night together. (Bud asks Marcy, "You are on the pill, right?" In response, Marcy looks nervous.) Out of the Bundys, Bud seems to be the most ashamed of the family as he often pretends not to know them. He is also arguably the most academically intelligent. He ridicules Kelly as a promiscuous dimwit, and although he quite frequently uses her ignorance to his benefit, he occasionally feels obliged to defend her when others exploit her foolishness -- but he is known to scheme against his own family. He makes honor roll throughout high school, and gets himself through college (and even earns scholarship money, which his family spends without his consent). During his college years, Bud is portrayed as the leader of his "social circle" (most of whom are stereotypical "losers"), as he appears to be the only one with the least bit of self-confidence. He is also Kelly's agent, receiving 80% of everything she makes. While being the bait of the family, Bud is the most matured member of the Bundys despite his personality. Although he is occasionally bullied and beaten by bigger men, Bud has inherited his father's talents for fist-fighting, once teaming up with Al to single-handedly beat up an entire gang of teenage punks, while helping Peg's father find a bear from Wanker County on the loose in Chicago. In two episodes, he has also assisted his fellow Bundys when they brawl with another family -- Al beats up the father, Peg beats up the mother, Kelly beats up the daughter, and Bud beats up the son. On his eighteenth birthday, Bud also helped Al during a strip-club brawl. He is not above fighting dirty by smashing his opponents over the head with chairs or bottles. Buck: Buck (Played by Michael, trained by Steven Ritt) is the family dog; voiceover by writer/producer Kevin Curran; on special episodes Buck is voiced by Cheech Marin. From season eight on, Buck voice was provided by staff member Kim Weiskopf). He is often "heard" by the audience through voiceovers that tell what is on his mind. He is just as disgusted with the family as the others. Peggy dotes on him, sometimes even cooking for him. Though extremely lazy, Buck has a huge, insatiable sexual appetite, having at one point impregnated all the female dogs in the neighborhood. Buck died at one point in the series to allow Michael, the dog that portrayed him, to retire. (Michael died nine months later) Buck went to animal heaven, and was reincarnated as Lucky, a cocker spaniel. In later seasons, Buck/Lucky would occasionally serve as the narrator in the second half of a two-part episode, recapping the events of the first part. Lucky: A character whose voice-overs were performed by staff member Kim Weiskopf, Lucky is the spaniel that the family gets after Buck dies. He is the reincarnation of Buck, but no one in the family ever realizes this. In the episode "Lez Be Friends," the Bundy kids have difficulty entertaining a depressed Lucky; it is revealed that Lucky is gay, with a leather-clad olde english bulldog as his companion. Seven: Seven-year-old Seven (Shane Sweet) is adopted by the Bundy family after being abandoned by his own parents, Zemus and Ida-Mae, cousins of Peggy who are both hillbillies. Seven was given his name by his parents, who claimed that he was the "seventh" child they had, but while counting up to 7, Zemus skipped a number, thus giving anecdotal evidence that Seven may only be their sixth child. In the seventh season, true to the Bundy name, he quickly proves himself to be manipulative, conniving, and good in a fist fight. Although the character was intended to generate fresh storylines, the show's writers ultimately found it difficult to work the boy into the show’s adult-themed scripts. The character was abruptly dropped, to the delight of the viewers. (A poll showed that more than 80% of the viewers did not like the character.) His final appearance was in the episode "Peggy And The Pirates," where Peggy sends him off to bed so that she can make love to Al. The character was never to be mentioned again, except for on three separate occasions in Season 8. One is when his face appears on the side of a milk carton over the words, “Have you seen me?” Another instance is when Marcy and Jefferson comes over to inform the Bundys that Seven has been staying with them, and has learned to chant "Kill the Bundys" with the rest of the people in the neighborhood. In episode 0823 ("Kelly Knows Something"), when Al is teaching sports trivia to Kelly, we see numerous (many essential) facts leaving her brain as she is learning. A picture of Seven flows out of her brain, indicating that she will no longer remember him. Marcy Rhoades D'Arcy: Marcy D'Arcy (Marcy Rhoades from Episodes 0101–0512, played by Amanda Bearse) is Peggy's best friend, Al's nemesis, and the family's next-door neighbor. Though she considers herself to be better than the Bundy family, Marcy often sinks to their level. She originally worked as a loan officer at the city bank (in a higher position than her husband, Steve), and then as the manager of the Kyoto National Bank since the second season. But for a brief time, she was demoted to drive-up window teller as punishment for approving a loan Al could not re-pay (in fact the purpose was to make Al to be able to re-pay a previous loan approved by Steve, but Al instead turned this loan into his "shoe hotline" project as well, and lost it too). She wins back her old job after frugging on her boss's desk for 20 minutes, clad only in a slip, while the other drive-up window tellers tossed quarters at her. Initially, Marcy was a sweet, wholesome newlywed, but years of living next to the Bundys apparently warped her into a character almost as outrageous as the Bundys. She contemptuously bickered with Al, and reveled in his misery. Marcy seemed to have a disturbing dark side, and enjoys sharing her past memories with Peg, but often tends to get lost in them. At various points in the series, she is identified as a Republican who looks down on the lower-class Bundy clan, but at other times, she is portrayed as a man-hating radical feminist and environmentalist. Al's most frequent targets are Marcy's tiny chest and her chicken-like stance when she gets annoyed. Its unknown if Marcy has any children in season 5 Marcy claimed she was pregnant though this was later written out of the show. One of the running gags in the series has Marcy often mistaken for a young boy, on one occasion even being mistaken for Bruce Jenner; when she reminisces about her first training bra, Al asks "How old were you then - twenty-five?!" Her cousin, Mandy, (also played by real-life lesbian Bearse) is a lesbian. Despite wanting to appear prudish, Marcy is shown to be a very sexual person, and is revealed to have a rather sordid sexual history, such as the "Little Bo Peep and the Cop" game. Although Marcy and Al are usually adversaries, they often unite in common causes, such as when Steve loses his job, and later when Jefferson comes into the series. Their teamwork is attributable to the fact that they are both "bread-winners," giving them occasional moments of mutual understanding. Steve Rhoades: Steven "Steve" Bartholomew Rhoades (David Garrison) is Marcy's first husband. He is a banker who seems unfazed by his lower position than Marcy at the city bank. (When Marcy moves up to a high position at another bank, he gets her former job.) Steve initially condescends to the Bundys, but eventually becomes more like them, and generally turns to Al for male-bonding. Marcy was initially attracted to him because of his self-centered materialism. Steve seemed to be a fairly demure and buttoned-down character, compared to his wife and the Bundys, although he did show a dark side. As a banker, Steve took sadistic pleasure in humiliating people who bullied him in high school by making his former tormentors (many of whom were stuck in poor, dead-end jobs similar to Al's) grovel for bank loans, which he flatly refused. Steve also got his job as Dean of Bud's college by blackmailing the man who employed him as a chauffeur. Steve was written out of the show in the middle of the fourth season; Garrison had decided he no longer wanted to be tied down to a weekly television series, preferring to avoid being typecast in one role, and devote more time to his first love: stage acting. He reached an agreement with FOX to buy out the remainder of his contract. In the final episode shot, (though confusingly, not the final episode aired) in which he was a regular character, Steve is disenchanted with his and Marcy's yuppie lifestyle, and is increasingly interested in becoming an outdoorsman (a real-life interest of Garrison's). He then disappears, with the explanation that he left Marcy to become a forest ranger at Yosemite National Park. Prior to disappearing he loses his job at the bank, after, in desire to win a free trip to Hawaii, he approves a loan for Al's "shoe hotline" project which fails. His last job was as a "pooper scooper" at an exotic pet shop. In later seasons, Garrison would reprise the Steve Rhoades character on four occasions, returning to guest star in individual episodes (with Steve having pursued other careers in the meantime), as he eventually returns to professional life to become the Dean of Bud's college. This episode was to be the pilot of a spin-off series that never happened. Jefferson D'Arcy: Jefferson Milhouse D'Arcy (Ted McGinley) is Marcy's second husband (original age unknown, but younger than Steve Rhoades, but one episode mentioned that he celebrated his 40th birthday), a "pretty-boy" who marries her for her money. Self-centered and lazy, he is a male equivalent of Peggy. Marcy met Jefferson (a bartender) at his workplace after a bankers' convention when she got drunk, and found herself married to him the next morning; she was horrified to find out that her name was now Marcy D'Arcy. He is the closest friend of Al, and often angers Marcy when he is bonding with him; unlike Steve Rhoades, who was more of a foil, or straight man, to Al, Jefferson tends to be very encouraging and attuned to Al's behavior. Marcy constantly bosses Jefferson around to keep him in check. However, behind her back, Jefferson often insults Marcy, ignores her orders (and has implied numerous times that he cheats on her). When Marcy's favorite squirrel Zippy dies, Jefferson tells her that he will give it a proper burial, only to punt it out of his sight when Marcy turns around. Jefferson is a member of "NO MA'AM" along with Al, wearing the trademark T-shirt, but he always keeps a clean "YES MA'AM" T-shirt on underneath, which he quickly reveals if Marcy is about to bust one of "NO MA'AM"'s activities. He seems very afraid of provoking his wife's anger, and his fear is justified; in one episode, after he angered Marcy, she kicked him in the behind so hard he had to go to the hospital to get her boot removed from his rear end. Marcy constantly hounds Jefferson to get a job. However, on the rare occasions when he actually gets one (working at the shoe store, being cast as an actor in a commercial, working as an aerobics instructor, working at an auto-repair shop in some menial position, etc.), he usually ends up working with beautiful women, which prompts a jealous Marcy to make him quit and return to his de facto job as her gigolo. This tendency runs in the D'Arcy family, as Jefferson's father also worked as a gigolo, and his mother worked as an exotic dancer before she was eaten by her snake at an airport. He is easily the most financially-scheming character of the show, even more than the Bundys. Often, when Al stumbles into a unique lucrative opportunity, Jefferson typically persuades Al to take advantage of it. When Al was robbed in his shoe store, Jefferson convinced him to sue the mall while feigning psychological trauma. When Al discovered hidden shoes that he stocked away in the 1970s, Jefferson convinced him to use the shoes as a new gimmick for the store by taking advantage of the old shoes' popularity. When discovering Al's boss, Gary, was using illegal sweatshops to manufacture the shoes, Jefferson assists Al in a search for incriminating evidence. When Bud was involved in a romantic relationship with the (surprising to the characters, female) Gary (played by Janet Carroll), Jefferson convinced Al to permit the relationship, so Al can milk Gary out of her money through his son. After discovering that they were in possession of private pictures of Shannon Tweed in sexually provocative manners, Jefferson convinced Al to sell it to the media. During a rare time in which Al is struck with good luck, Jefferson persuades him into a high-stakes poker game with a group of ex-criminals. Jefferson also convinced Al to go home to have sex with his wife, so Al could win a radio contest. During the course of the series, it is revealed that Jefferson spent time in prison (for selling contaminated land as a vacation spot to several people, including Al) and used to be in the CIA. Occasionally, people claim to have seen him on Happy Days, a claim he always denies (Ted McGinley did, in fact, play Jefferson High School coach and teacher Roger Phillips on Happy Days later in the series, the obvious inspiration for the character's name). Ted McGinley had appeared previously as Peggy's husband, Mr. Norman Jablonski, in the second part of It's a Bundyful Life, where Al's guardian angel (Sam Kinison) shows Al what his family would have become if he was never born. The episode lightly parodies Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. Amber: Amber (Juliet Tablak) is Marcy's niece. Amber's mother sent her to live with Marcy to get her out of her bad L.A. neighborhood. Bud tries relentlessly to bed, and succeeds, but only once. After season nine, Amber disappears without explanation. Like most females on the sitcom, she is typically repulsed by his objectifying views of females. However, she does appear to demonstrate an attraction to Bud (remarking to Kelly in private that she thinks he is cute), and freely kisses him as a way of saying goodbye. Recurring characters: Griff (Harold Sylvester): First appears early in Season 9, and is a friend and co-worker of Al at the shoe store. He is also a member of Al's "NO MA'AM" organization. A divorcee, he shares many of Al's characteristics as far as work ethic and views on women go. However, Griff isn't quite as impolite and outspoken to their customers, or to their boss, Gary. He is also less callous; occasionally he feels uneasy when going along with one of Al or Jefferson's many schemes. Griff drives a GEO Metro, and is often mocked for this. However, Griff is happy because it is still more reliable than Al's 1970s Dodge. (Al says Griff's car is easier to push.) When Bud and Griff first met, Bud said Al never mentioned having a co-worker, and Griff said Al never mentioned having a son, a daughter, or a living wife, but had already annoyed him with all the times he mentioned scoring four touchdowns in one single game. Bob Rooney (E. E. Bell): One of Al's friends from the neighborhood, and treasurer of "NO MA'AM." He works as a butcher, has a wife named Louise (who is a friend of Peggy), and played on the same football team as Al at Polk High. He is always called by both his first and last name, even by his wife, and it is spelled as one word on his bowling shirt. Bell was the only member of the extended cast to spend a lot of time on the Usenet newsgroups fielding questions from viewers. Officer Dan (Dan Tullis, Jr.): A friend of Al's who is also in "NO MA'AM." Surprisingly, though he is part of "NO MA'AM," he often arrests them for their illegal antics. However, he does admit to his friends that he is a corrupt officer, which indicates he does help out the group now and then. In one of the times he was about to arrest them, he changes his mind and joins them when he learns they're trying to "bring back Psycho Dad." Though he was usually a cop, in season 6 Officer Dan arrives at the Bundy front door as an FBI agent looking for Steve Rhodes. Ike (Tom McCleister): Another member of "NO MA'AM." Sergeant of Arms of the organization. Believes Elvis is still alive. The character was named after producer Kim Weiskopf's best friends's son. Miranda Veracruz de la Hoya Cardinal (Teresa Parente): Latina local news reporter originally from "a country named after the equator" who is typically assigned to cover the pathetic news stories in which the Bundys inevitably involve themselves. She often laments the sad state of her career on-air. While she only appears in a handful of episodes throughout the series, the character seems to be quite popular with fans. The Wankers: Peggy's family, living in Wanker County ("The home of the gassy beaver"). They are more often mentioned than seen on camera. Peggy's mother is never shown. Heard only in frightening voice-overs by Kathleen Freeman and ground-shaking gags (making her an unseen character), she lives with the Bundys in later seasons. There are vague and comical references to her gigantic weight. This woman is mostly the victim of Al's abrasive, behind-the-back, and hatred-filled insults. She was set to be played by Divine, who died before production. She works a phone-sex hotline under the moniker "Butter." She also uses a pitch fork as an eating utensil. Mrs. Wanker's unbelievable obesity is the subject of many jokes, including one in which Al goes blind after accidentally walking in on her bathing. Though Peggy’s mother is never shown, her father (Tim Conway) appears in a few episodes. Peggy's father, Ephraim was played by Tim Conway, appearing occasionally in the last three seasons. It is implied that he was drunk, and held a shotgun to Al's head at Al and Peggy's wedding. (He calls Peggy by her true name "Margaret.") Unlike many other sitcoms with the father-in-law usually disapproving of the husband having married his daughter, Peg's father approves of Al so much that he held a gun to Al's head to force him to follow through on the marriage Al had drunkenly proposed to Peg, although Ephraim implied in "The Joke's on Al" that the gun wasn't loaded at the time. Ephraim, like his wife, was set to be played by Divine, who died before production. Other extended family members includes Uncle Otto (James 'Gypsy' Haake), Uncle Irwin (Chris Pallies (King Kong Bundy)), the Wanker Triplets (Milly de Rubio, Elena de Rubio, Eadie de Rubio), Cousin Possum Boy (John Gerard), Cousin Effie (Joey Lauren Adams), Cousin Eb (William Sanderson), Cousin Zemus (Bob Goldthwait) and his wife Cousin Ida Mae (Linda Blair). In the UK and Australia, the word 'wanker' is a slang insult that means "someone who masturbates." It is not known whether the producers knew this, and included is as an in-joke for the benefit of British/Australian audiences, or whether the name is just a coincidence. When Peggy hears Al encouraging Kelly to get a job, she mentions a tradition of the female Wankers of having men being buried earlier for having to keep them. Gary (Janet Carroll): The owner of Gary's Shoes and employer of Al. Gary's first appearance in the series came after Al turned her women's shoe store into a men's, assuming Gary was male and therefore wouldn't notice. (Al never saw Gary in the first twenty years he worked in the store, leading him once to doubt that Gary really existed) Gary is incredibly wealthy (she would have been in the Forbes 400, but only reached #401 because of the shoe store--her only failing business venture). In the first appearance she said she owns, among other things, men, prompting Al to offer himself but she points out she said "men." Over the course of the series she makes several more appearances, always to the chagrin of Al, and in one episode even becomes the Sugar Momma of Bud, much to the chagrin of those who still thought she was a man. However she became too possessive leading Bud to break-up with her as he puts his dignity over her money. Luke Ventura (Ritch Shydner): A co-worker at the shoe store early in the series. He was a sly womanizer who was always seducing beautiful women and stealing Al's sales. Peg hated him while Al tolerated him. He disappears from the show after the first season, but is mentioned again in the ninth season episode "Pump Fiction," when Al learns from the shoe industry publication "Shoe News" that Luke is being given an award. Though he was portrayed to be a friend of Al's in the beginning of the series, after his disappearance, he had been spoken of as if he had since become Al's rival. Aaron Mitchell (Hill Harper): The third co-worker of Al's at the shoe store. A young football star at Polk High, he is on the verge of marrying a wonderful woman and going to college, achieving everything that Al ever wanted. Al chooses to live his life vicariously through Aaron, until his misguided advice accidentally drive the boy to a shrewish woman named "Meg" (a young copy of Peg) and the same dismal fate which had befallen Al. Aaron appeared only in the eighth season (5 episodes). Dexter (Chi McBride): He was the second co-worker with Al in Gary's Shoes. He was killed off when a fat woman fell on him during an Earthquake that was ironically caused by fat women. Ariel (Jennifer Lyons): One of Bud's love interests. She is the quintessential dumb blonde, sporting blonde hair, large breasts, skimpy outfits and a high-pitched voice. She is not very smart and Bud is constantly thinking of new ways to con her into having sex with him. In 1989, Terry Rakolta, a homemaker from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, led a boycott against Married... with Children after viewing the episode “Her Cups Runneth Over.” Offended by the images of an old man wearing a garter and stockings, the scene where Steve touches the panties of a mannequin dressed in S&M gear, a homosexual man wearing a tiara on his head (and Al's line, "...and they wonder why we call them 'queens'"), and a woman who takes off her bra in front of Al (and is shown with her arms covering her chest in the next shot), Rakolta began a letter-writing campaign to advertisers, demanding they boycott the show. After advertisers began dropping their support for the show and while Rakolta made several appearances on television talk shows, FOX executives refused to air the episode titled I'll See You In Court. This episode would become known as the "Lost Episode" and was aired on FX on June 18, 2002, with some parts cut for time reasons. The episode did, however, air outside the United States since the show went into syndication. The episode was packaged with the rest of the third season in the January 2005 DVD release (and in the first volume of the Married...With Children Most Outrageous episode DVD set) with the parts cut from syndication put back in. During the first boycott, ratings for Married...With Children ironically rose due to interest in the show caused by Rakolta's crusade to have the show canceled. The increased number of viewers kept the show on the air until 1997. Rakolta has been referenced twice on the show: “Rock and Roll Girl,” when a newscaster mentioned the city Bloomfield Hills, and “No Pot To Pease In,” when a television show was made about the Bundy family and then was canceled because (according to Marcy) "some woman in Michigan didn't like it." Another edited episode involved Al trying to sell his Dodge before he is contacted by a Dodge representative wanting to record the moment when the odometer on the Dodge reaches all-zeros (1 million miles) was also the source of controversy. After meeting various people, Al is approached by two men dressed in all white tunics, holding a bundle of dynamite attached to an alarm clock. The men declare, "Look, we have no time to haggle; we need car and directions to Sears Tower." For the most part the episodes on the North American DVD box sets are the unedited versions as seen on the FOX network, however there are some instances where scenes have been cut or the syndicated version of an episode was placed on the DVD instead. This is most noticeable in Season 4, where 8 of the 22 episodes have some type of edit. The German region 2 Season 4 set uses non-syndicated versions of these episodes, although the Dutch and French sets have the syndicated versions. The region 4 sets were delayed by three years from the release of the complete Season 1, until the release of Season 2. EzyDVD plans to release the region 4 editions from seasons 2-7. These DVDs will all be released on September 24, 2008. It is unknown whether or not these DVDs will be edited like their American counterparts, as few details have been released on the DVDs. The DVD box sets from Season 3 onward do not feature the original "Love and Marriage" theme song in the opening sequence. This was done because Sony was unable to obtain the rights to the theme song. It is highly unlikely that the theme song will return in any yet to be released DVD box set. The replaced theme song was the cause of the syndicated versions of seven episodes in Season 4, as Sony falsely claimed did not have access to the original masters of these episodes, and had to use syndicated prints. This is proved wrong since they used the originals from Season 4 in "Most Outrageous" DVDs that contained some episodes. As the end credits had to be altered to credit the new theme song, certain scenes that originally ran during the end credits had to be replaced with a freeze frame. In most episodes affected, the original audio plays in the background while you see a freeze frame, however in a few cases a freeze frame is used, but the original audio is replaced with the theme song. The final three seasons are expected to be released in the near future. In the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) all seasons have already been released (region 2). In December 2007 the Big Bundy Box - a special collection box with all seasons plus new interviews with Katey Sagal & David Faustino - was released. In 1995 The WB made a sitcom Unhappily Ever After, the series lasted four years and was similar to Married.. with Children in plots and character's personality, though didn't get the same popularity. It focused on Jack Malloy, a stressed out and hallucinating used car salesman, his wife Jennie, a sex-crazed, manipulative and self-centered housewife, Ryan Malloy, the eldest son who is dumb and stupid, Tiffany, the pretty, smart and skimpy-dressed virgin daughter, Ross, the youngest and most intelligent though is ignored by his family, and Mr. Floppy, a stuffed rabbit that lives in the Malloy's basement though he may just be a figment of Jack's crazed imagination. Married... with Children was adapted into a comic book series by NOW Comics in 1990. The episodes Top of the Heap, Radio Free Trumaine, and Enemies were meant to be spin-offs: Top of the Heap was the only episode of the three to get its own show. It was notable as an early sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc. The show was about Vinnie Verducci (played by LeBlanc) and his father Charlie (played by Joseph Bologna) always trying get rich quick schemes. The Verduccis were introduced in an earlier episode where Vinnie played Kelly Bundy's boyfriend and Charlie played an old friend of Al Bundy's. The end of the pilot episode shows Al breaking into their apartment and stealing their TV to replace the one he lost betting on Vinnie in a boxing match. Radio Free Trumaine was to be about Bud Bundy's time in college with the campus radio station, with Steve Rhoades as the antagonistic Dean. The episode co-starred Keri Russell. Enemies was a Friends clone, featuring Alan Thicke, based around Kelly Bundy's social circle. In addition to those three spin-offs, a Frasier-type spin-off (i.e., picking up from where the show it spun-off from left off) about Kelly Bundy was planned but never made for two reasons: Christina Applegate turned it down, and Fox's contract stated that the two Bundy children couldn't get spin-offs. Also, series co-creator Michael G. Moye proposed a NO MA'AM, spin-off, but got turned down mainly due to FOX's fears of alienating much of the female demographic. For years, reruns aired on FX. Sony Pictures Television picked up the show and has only released it on DVD but never aired it on any channel. In 2008, the Spike network reportedly paid US$12 million for broadcast rights to every episode including the unedited version of the infamous episode, I'll See You In Court. It is currently showing on Spike TV. In 1986, FOX became the fourth network. However, it took a while for it to gain mainstream success. One of the shows to help FOX gain that success was Married…With Children. Ironically, it gave FOX that success with some bad publicity. In 1989, two years into Married’s run, Michigan housewife Terry Rakolta organized a boycott against this family insult comedy, deeming it offensive, raunchy and sleazy. Curious viewers tuned in, agreed with her, and kept the show on the air for over 10 years. Shoe salesman Al Bundy (like the show, he spent his career stooping as low as possible) was crude, saddled with an oversexed wife and disappointing kids, and Ed O'Neill, one of the best character actors on TV, played him to whiny perfection. But, O’Neill wasn’t the only standout on the show. Katey Sagal was perfect as the annoying but strikingly hot mooch Peggy. Christina Applegate’s performance as blonde bimbo Kelly was so good that she managed to not get typecast as a dumb blonde. And, only Dave Faustino can play loveable loser Bud. They were a incredibly sarcastic and quick-witted (well, Kelly was quick but not witted) bunch. The actors had a great chemistry together and manage to plays the roles with a good balance of content and love for each other. But, the show wasn’t just about the Bundys; it was also quite groundbreaking. Like the Simpsons, the Bundys were really a twisted mirror of TV's instant-gratification culture, an illustration of deadly sins, lust, sloth, greed, etc., suitable for a medieval morality play. They were one of TV’s first dysfunctional families and paved the way for other not-so-perfect clans, like the Simpsons and the Connors. However, the show never really got the respect it deserved. First, there was the aforementioned boycott. Also, Roseanne is usually cited as the groundbreaker of blue-collar dysfunctional families despite the fact Married…With Children was created a year before Roseanne hit ABC’s airwaves, mainly because Married was a lot more raunchy and cruder than Roseanne. And, that raunchy and crude attitude that Married…With Children soon became the whole attitude of FOX, but that’s not Married…With Children’s fault. FOX chose to take that ball and run with it; it’s not like the show held a gun to FOX’s head and forced them to air When Animals Attack. Nevertheless, Married…With Children usually gets a bad rapt that it didn’t really deserve. Creators Ron Levitt and Michael G. Moye just wanted to air a sitcom that depicted the typical American family as they really were: middle-class or lower with problems. Yes, it became increasingly zestily lowbrow and sex-obsessed, but that was part of its charm (and, honestly, this country became more lowbrow and sex-obsessed as well). Married…With Children shouldn’t be remembered as a crude show but rather as a show that was dedicated to the classical ideal that unhappy families were more interesting than happy ones…and a lot funnier.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 25, 2008 22:03:03 GMT -5
Tomorrow, number 36-33. Here are the hints:
Where dead people are located, a quiet (well, not THAT quiet) mountain town, a police unit in a very sunny city, and a piece of medieval armor.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 26, 2008 18:54:38 GMT -5
Sorry for the delay; I went to see "The Dark Knight." Anyway, here's number 36: 36. Six Feet Under Genre: Comedy, Drama. Created by: Alan Ball. Executive Producer(s): Alan Ball, Alan Poul, Bob Greenblatt, David Janollari, Scott Buck, Rick Cleveland, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Jill Soloway, and Christian Williams. Starring: Peter Krause (Nathaniel “Nate” Fisher, Jr.), Michael C. Hall (David Fisher), Frances Conroy (Ruth Fisher), Lauren Ambrose (Claire Fisher), Mathew St. Patrick (Keith Charles), Freddy Rodriguez (Federico “Rico” Diaz), Justina Machado (Vanessa Diaz), Rachel Griffiths (Brenda Chenowith), and James Cromwell (George Sibley). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 5. Number of Episodes: 63. Running Time: 60 minutes. Original Channel: HBO. Original Run: June 3, 2001 – August 21, 2005. Spinoffs: None. Six Feet Under was created by Alan Ball. The title is a colloquialism for death, (six feet being the traditional depth at which a body would be laid). The show stars Peter Krause as Nathaniel Samuel ("Nate") Fisher Jr., the son of a funeral director who, upon the death of his father, reluctantly becomes a partner in the family funeral business with his brother David, played by Michael C. Hall. The Fisher clan also includes mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) and sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose). Other regulars include mortician and family friend Federico Diaz (Freddy Rodriguez), Nate's on-again, off-again girlfriend Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths), and David's boyfriend Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick). Other characters on the show included: Vanessa Diaz (Justina Machado): Registered nurse; former employee at Bay Breeze Nursing Home in Sherman Oaks. Wife and high school sweetheart of Federico; mother to Julio and Augusto. George Sibley (James Cromwell): Geologist/professor; second husband to Ruth; father to Brian, Maggie and Kyle. George suffers from an undiagnosed paranoia which prompts him to receive electro-convulsive shock treatment. Nathaniel Samuel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins): Patriarch of Fisher family and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home before his death in a car accident in 2000. Husband of Ruth; father of Nate, David and Claire. Sarah O’Connor (Patricia Clarkson): Younger sister of Ruth Fisher, an artist who lives in Topanga Canyon. Bettina (Kathy Bates): Sarah’s friend and caretaker who becomes Ruth’s friend when Sarah undergoes withdrawal and further drug rehabilitation. Lisa Kimmel Fisher (Lili Taylor): Nate’s former girlfriend and roommate while living in Seattle; she subsequently becomes pregnant with Nate's child Maya, and they marry in 2002. In 2003, she disappears while enroute to visit her sister, and her body later washes up on shore. Eventually it is revealed she was engaged in an affair with her brother-in-law. He commits suicide, and it is suspected but never proven that he murdered Lisa. Billy Chenowith (Jeremy Sisto): Brenda’s younger brother who has bipolar disorder; son of Margaret and Bernard Chenowith; had an on-off romantic relationship with Claire Fisher. Margaret Chenowith (Joanna Cassidy): Psychologist mother of Brenda and Billy; widow of Bernard; current lover to Olivier Castro-Staal. Dr. Bernard Chenowith (Robert Foxworth): Brenda and Billy’s psychiatrist father; husband to Margaret before his death in 2003. Olivier Castro-Staal (Peter Macdissi): Professor of Form and Space at LAC-Arts; lover to Margaret Chenowith. Aspects of this character may be based on Nathan Oliveira. Arthur Martin (Rainn Wilson): A young intern from Cypress College mortuary school who works for the funeral home briefly. Russell Corwin (Ben Foster): Former boyfriend and classmate of Claire. Edie (Mena Suvari): Free spirited lesbian artist and good friend of Claire. They shared a hesitant, non-consummated night together with Claire realizing she wasn't a lesbian immediately afterwards. Anita Miller (Sprague Grayden): Former best friend and roommate of Claire Fisher; ex-girlfriend of Russell Corwin. Parker McKenna (Marina Black): Best friend of Claire Fisher during her high school years. Gabriel Dimas (Eric Balfour): Claire’s high school boyfriend who was a drug addict and robbed a convenience store. It is assumed he died a short while after he disappears. Nikolai (Ed O'Ross): Owner of Blossom d’Amour Flower Shop; boyfriend of Ruth Fisher when she worked as a florist. Ted Fairwell (Chris Messina): Corporate attorney at Braeden Chemical Legal Department who becomes Claire's boyfriend when she is assigned as a secretary through her temp job (temporary employee). Marries Claire shortly after her mother's death. Durrell Charles-Fisher (Kendre Berry): Adopted older son of David and Keith; older brother of Anthony. He plans on working as a firefighter but later becomes a funeral director like his father. Anthony Charles-Fisher (C. J. Sanders): Adopted younger son of David and Keith; brother of Durrell. Seen in the flash forward during the final minutes as an adult in the company of a male partner. Maya Fisher (Brenna and Bronwyn Tosh): Nate and Lisa’s toddler daughter. On one level, the show is a conventional family drama, dealing with such issues as relationships, infidelity, and religion. At the same time, it is a show distinguished by its unblinking focus on the topic of death, which it explores on multiple levels (personal, religious, and philosophical). Each episode begins with a death, ranging from anything from drowning or heart attack to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and that death usually sets the tone for each episode, allowing the characters to reflect on their current fortunes and misfortunes in a way that is illuminated by the death and its aftermath. The show also has a strong dosage of dark humor and surrealism running throughout. A recurring plot device consists of a character having an imaginary conversation with the person who died at the beginning of the episode. Sometimes, the conversation is with other recurring dead characters, notably Nathaniel Fisher Sr. The show's creator Alan Ball states they represent the living character's internal dialogue by exposing it as an external conversation, yet on some occasions (see the appearance of Nathaniel Fisher Sr. at the end of the last episode of the first season) no living character sees or interacts with the dead character. Also, on many occasions the dead characters relate information the living ones could not know, perhaps representing speculation on the part of the living concerning issues which were never solved before the passing. Casual conversations with the dead also reflect the genre of magical realism. Although overall plots and characters were created by Alan Ball, there are conflicting reports on how the series was conceived. In one instance, Ball stated that he came up with the premise of the show after the deaths of his sister and father. However, in an interview, he intimates that HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss proposed the idea to him. In a copyright-infringement lawsuit, screenwriter Gwen O’Donnell asserted that she was the original source of the idea which later passed through Strauss to Ball; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, proceeding on the assumption that this assertion was true, rejected her claim. The show focuses on human mortality and the lives of those who deal with it on a daily basis. When discussing the concept of the show, creator Alan Ball elaborates on the foremost questions the show’s pilot targeted: Who are these people who are funeral directors that we hire to face death for us? What does that do to their own lives - to grow up in a home where there are dead bodies in the basement, to be a child and walk in on your father with a body lying on a table opened up and him working on it? What does that do to you? Six Feet Under introduces the Fisher family as the basis on which to answer these questions. Throughout its five-season, 63-episode run, major characters experience crises which are in direct relation to their environment and the grief they’ve experienced. Alan Ball again relates these experiences as well as the choice of the series’ title, to the persistent subtext of the program: Six Feet Under refers not only to being buried as a dead body is buried, but to primal emotions and feelings running under the surface. And when one is surrounded by death it seems like to counterbalance that, there needs to be a certain intensity of experience, of needing to escape. It’s Nate with his sort of womanizing; it’s Claire and her experimenting with dangerous boys and dangerous drugs; and it’s Brenda’s whole sexual compulsiveness; it’s David having sex with a hooker in public; it’s Ruth having affair after affair; it’s the life force trying to push up through all of that suffering and grief and depression. The show received critical acclaim from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The New York Times, among other media, and has garnered praise from fellow television producers and funeral directors, with many considering it to be one of the best dramas ever made for television. In total, Six Feet Under won three Golden Globe Awards, nine Emmy Awards as well as a Peabody Award. The series won the Golden Globe award for Outstanding Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Griffiths in 2002. Frances Conroy went on to receive the award for Best Actress in a Drama for the Golden Globes in 2004. The show also won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble for a Drama Series two years in a row (2003–2004). It first aired on HBO in 2001, and has been broadcast in syndication in the US by basic cable channel Bravo as well as in dozens of other countries. The series ended its five year run on August 21, 2005. It may cliché given that practically anyone who has seen this show and talked about it has said it, but I don’t care; it’s the only way I can think of to start talking about Six Feet Under: though it revolved around death, the show was really about life; death just happens to be a big part of it. I feel a little dirty for typing that, but it’s true. Six Feet Under showed viewers a profession that had never been portrayed on TV, funeral home operators, and used it to make a wonderful show about how people live their lives. In fact, the funeral home profession was the perfect occupation to talk about life because the people who work there are surrounded by death all their lives, which allowed creator Alan Ball to show all the phases of life and how people deal with them and could tell people to not be so serious about it since it focused on people who would become a little numb to it (and some of the deaths that started the show were funny, like the woman who saw a bunch of helium filled sex dolls float up in the sky, thought it was the Rapture, got out of her car hoping to be called into heaven, and got hit by a car). Ball's all-in-the-funeral-family drama also expanded on the themes of his movie “American Beauty”: families keep secrets, people maintain facades, and while death may be final, life is messy. The saga of the Fishers reveled in its characters' contradictions: matriarch Ruth (Frances) was both uptight and free-spirited; artist daughter Claire (Ambrose) was insightful yet whiny; son David (Hall) was repressed yet brave; other son Nate (Krause) was idealistic yet could be a total jerk. It was uncompromising (one episode began with a man shooting up a telemarketing service; another had David getting kidnapped by a crack addict) and unflinching (lots of sex from Nate and Brenda to David and Keith, TV’s gay couple that had the most sex…well, until Queer As Folk came on the air), the show still proves addictive because of its superb ensemble cast and surprising twists. The most interesting thing about the show was that it began and ended with a death in the Fisher family. In the first episode, patriarch Nathaniel is hit by a bus on the day the family is suppose to have Christmas dinner. Then, in its bravura last few episodes Nate dies of a brain hemorrhage, just after splitting up with his wife from his hospital bed. The Fishers themselves became the mourners, celebrating Nathaniel and Nate's imperfect life and moving on. The elegiac epilogue, fast-forwarding through the lives and deaths of each remaining main character, was the series' best imaginable epitaph.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 26, 2008 20:05:38 GMT -5
35. South Park Genre: Animation, Sitcom. Created by: Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Executive Producer(s): Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Starring: Trey Parker (Stan Marsh, Randy Marsh, Grandpa Marsh, Starvin' Marvin, Eric Cartman, Clyde Donovan, Craig and his parents, Mr. Garrison, Ned Gerblansky, Dr. Alphonse Mephesto, Stephen Stotch, Mr. Hankey, Santa Claus, Mr. Mackey, Officer Barbrady, Ms. Choksondik, Tom Pusslicker, Timmy, Jimmy Vulmer, Tuong Lu Kim, Phillip, Satan, and various other characters), Matt Stone (Kyle Broflovski, Gerald Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Stuart McCormick, Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Jimbo Kern, Jesus, Saddam Hussein, Big Gay Al, Pip, Terrance, Tweek, Jimmy's father (Richard Vulmer), Father Maxi, Skeeter, Mr. Adler the shop teacher, Osama Bin Laden, and various others voices), Isaac Hayes (Chef 1997-2006), Mary Kay Bergman (Liane Cartman, Sheila Broflovski, Sharon Marsh, Mrs. McCormick, Principal Victoria, Mrs. Crabtree, Wendy Testaburger, and various other voices 1997-1999), Eliza Schneider (Wendy Testaburger, Sheila Broflovski, Liane Cartman, Shelley Marsh, Principal Victoria, Mrs. McCormick, Mayor McDaniels, Oprah Winfrey, and various other voices 2000-2003), Mona Marshall (Sheila Broflovski, Linda Stotch, and various other voices 2000-present), April Stewart (Liane Cartman, Sharon Marsh, Mrs. McCormick, Shelley Marsh, The Mayor, Principal Victoria, Wendy Testaburger, and various other characters 2004-present), John Hansen (Mr. Slave), Jennifer Howell (Bebe Stevens), and Adrien Beard (Token Black). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 12. Number of Episodes: 174. Running Time: 22 minutes. Original Channel: Comedy Central. Original Run: August 13, 1997 – present. Spinoffs: “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut,” a 1999 movie based on the show. South Park began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, at the time students at the University of Colorado, met in a film class and created an animated short called Jesus vs. Frosty. The low-budget crudely made film featured prototypes of the main characters of South Park, including a character resembling Cartman but named "Kenny", an unnamed character resembling what is today Kenny, and two near-identical unnamed characters who would resemble Stan and Kyle. In 1995, FOX executive Brian Graden saw the film, and commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film that he could send to his friends as a video Christmas card. Titled Jesus vs. Santa, it resembled the style of the later series more closely, and featured a martial arts duel and subsequent truce between Jesus and Santa Claus over the true meaning of Christmas. This video was later featured in the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas" in which Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, and Mr. Hankey "save" Christmas for the town. The video was popular and was widely shared, both by duplication and over the Internet. This led to talks to create a series, first with FOX, then with Comedy Central, where the series debuted on August 13, 1997. During the first four seasons of South Park, clips of the shorts can be seen in the opening sequence within an old television and a billboard. South Park's early episodes tended to be shock value-oriented and featured more slapstick-style humor than later episodes. Although satire had been used on the show occasionally earlier on, it became more prevalent in later episodes. Episodes have parodied Michael Jackson ("The Jeffersons"), Paris Hilton ("Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset"), and The Passion of the Christ ("The Passion of the Jew"), as well as addressed serious political issues such as terrorism ("Cartoon Wars"), American immigration policy ("Goobacks"), Gay Marriage ("Follow that Egg"), and the Terri Schiavo case ("Best Friends Forever"). The pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" (nearly identical to the first official episode, which has the same name), required three months to produce using construction paper and traditional cut-out animation techniques. However, the version that aired was different from the original version. Construction paper cutouts were used in the original pilot animation and in the first episode made for Comedy Central. Subsequent episodes have been produced by computer animation providing a similar look to the originals. The appearance of characters and scenes has become less crude over time, largely in order to enhance the comedic effect. Special effects, such as prepackaged explosions, have replaced cardboard-style fires. Light shading has been used to highlight "sappy," movie-like moments as well as some of Cartman's dramatic poses. Some episodes, such as Tweek vs. Craig and Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina, have even incorporated sections of live action video. Current episodes duplicate the original, amateurish look using modern computer animation tools, CorelDRAW to create the characters and first PowerAnimator and then Maya to animate them, which Parker and Stone described as "building a sandcastle with a bulldozer." The style of animation used for South Park was inspired by the paper cut-out cartoons made by Terry Gilliam for Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been lifelong fans. Thanks to this efficient method, episodes of South Park are usually completed in six days (although some, such as “AWESOM-O” or “Woodland Critter Christmas” have taken only three or four). This allows for a shorter production schedule, enabling the creators to respond quickly to current events. The December 17, 2003 episode "It's Christmas in Canada" depicted the capture of Saddam Hussein a mere three days after the actual event, even referring to the "spider hole" in which he was found. In this instance, as with the Elián González episode ("Quintuplets 2000"), the creators changed the production of an episode at the last minute to focus on the new world event. In 2002, the episode "Free Hat" aired. In this episode, inspired by Kyle's comment on Ted Koppel's Nightline that changing “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” would be like changing “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a fictional George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decide to alter the first Indiana Jones film. Soon after the episode aired, Lucas and Spielberg announced that contrary to rumors they would not be altering “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for DVD release. Prior to season four, the main characters of the show were four third grade students (often called "the boys" when as a group for easier reference): Stanley "Stan" Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Theodore Cartman, and Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick. There are many recurring characters on the show, including the boys' families, school staff, and other students. These include Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Chef (who no longer appears in the show), Mr. Hankey, Towelie, Jesus, and Satan. There are also many other minor characters. Matt Stone and Trey Parker voice most of the male South Park characters, while April Stewart and Mona Marshall (formerly Mary Kay Bergman and Eliza Schneider) voice most of the female characters such as Wendy Testaburger and Sheila Broflovski. Other voices are currently provided by Adrien Beard (Token Black), Vernon Chatman (Towelie), and Jennifer Howell (Bebe Stevens). Former members of the voice cast include Isaac Hayes (Chef) and John Hansen (Mr. Slave). Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski were initially designed to represent creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone respectively; however, both have admitted to ultimately identifying far more with Cartman. The show is set in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. The town is located in South Park, a geographical area of approximately 1000 square miles which is a high-altitude intermontane grassland basin. South Park is in Park County about 80 miles southwest of Denver and four miles from Fairplay. An unexplained peculiarity is that it is almost always winter in South Park, and there is (almost) always snow on the ground. This could be because the appearance of the characters, which were first introduced in a Christmas short, were dressed for winter. Cartman mentions in Jakovasaurs that there are only two seasons in South Park, winter and July (as seen in such episodes as Summer Sucks). South Park is inspired by both real-life towns in the South Park basin such as Fairplay and the Denver suburbs such as Littleton, the sites of the upbringing of South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The town is served by South Park Elementary and Hell's Pass Hospital. Town police consists almost entirely of Officer Barbrady (not counting county sheriff's deputies Yates and Murphy) and the only discernible politician is Mayor McDaniels. The town flag was changed in “Chef Goes Nanners” because the image of white people lynching a black man was thought racist. The new flag features a black man being lynched by people of all races and nationalities, including another black man. South Park was home to Jesus until his death in Red Sleigh Down. The show's original theme song was a musical score performed by the band Primus. The song has been remixed three times during the course of the series (as of season ten), and certain lines have been altered. In the beginning of season 10 the title music was changed to the song "Whamola", performed by The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, from the album Purple Onion. (Les Claypool is the singer and bassist in both Primus and the Frog Brigade.) Kenny's lines in the song, like the rest of his speech in the show, are muffled by his parka hood, which covers his entire face except for his eyes; however, Kenny's lines have been revealed by South Park Studios. In seasons 1–2, he says "I love girls with big fat titties, I love girls with deep vaginas." From seasons 3-5 he says "I have got a 10 inch penis, use your mouth if you want to clean it." In season 6, Kenny had been written out of the show, having supposedly permanently died; in his absence, Timmy, who has a cognitive disability (early in the show Timmy was originally described as being "mentally retarded"), takes his place, singing "Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Livin'a lie Timmy!" After returning to the show just before season 7, Kenny also returned to the theme song: From season 7 to the first half of season 10, Kenny says "Some day I'll be old enough to stick my dick in Britney's butt." Starting with the second half of Season 10, Kenny's lines changed again to "I like f***ing silly bitches because I know my penis likes it." In the original unaired pilot episode of “Cartman Gets An Anal Probe,” in the rather different version of the opening, Kenny's lines are the same as they were in the first 2 seasons. Popular songs such as "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch" originated on the show, but the creators' musical abilities were not frequently used until the release of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The film's soundtrack (co-written and produced by Grammy Award-winning composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman) featured songs like "Blame Canada" (nominated for an Oscar; see below), "I'm Super," "La Resistance Medley," "Hell Isn't Good," "Mountain Town," "Uncle f***a" (won an MTV Movie Award for "Best Musical Performance"), "Up There," and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?." Several of the songs from the movie are satires of tunes from Disney cartoons. For instance, "Mountain Town" is highly similar to the song "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. "Up There" is a take-off of two different Disney songs, "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. "La Resistance Medley" spoofs both "One Day More" from the stage musical Les Miserables and "Tonight" from West Side Story. Parker and Stone have, on occasion, performed these songs (and others) under the band name DVDA. In the show, Eric Cartman will often burst into song to convey a false altruism or optimism that belies his baser motivations. In "Red Sleigh Down", he sings "Poo-Choo Train", an unnervingly cheery Christmas carol, in an obvious attempt to convince Mr. Hankey and Santa Claus that he is worthy of Christmas presents. In "I'm a Little Bit Country", Cartman sings Paula Cole's song "I Don't Want to Wait" while beating someone to death (Cartman also sings the song as an homage to his Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper in the episode "Trapper Keeper"). In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman sings "Make It Right" with Butters in a weak attempt to reconcile his sins. In "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods", Cartman sings the Donna Summer song "She Works Hard For The Money" during an audition for Cheesy Poofs. In the episode "Ginger Kids", he sings a song about tolerance once he realizes he's not one of the "Gingers" and that he just convinced every Ginger in town to exterminate non-Ginger people. Cartman also uses the song "Heat of the Moment" in episode 513 ("Kenny Dies") to convince the U.S. Senate to approve stem cell research. Cartman has a mental quirk that forces him to finish singing Styx's Come Sail Away whenever someone sings a few bars of the song. As soon as he learns this, Kyle, who has a strong and explicit hatred for Cartman, takes advantage of this and forces Cartman to finish the song so many times that Cartman becomes literally unintelligible. In episode 409, "Something You Can Do with Your Finger", the boys made their boy band, "Fingerbang." Cartman was also the lead singer for "Faith + 1", a Christian band he formed with Butters and Token in the episode "Christian Rock Hard". He creates several "Christian" songs by taking sexually suggestive love songs and substituting romantic words such as "baby" and "darling" with "Jesus"; instead of the traditional "Christian Rock" lyrics singing about spiritual love for Jesus, Cartman sings about his desire to have actual, physical sex with Jesus. A few titles of these songs include "Body of Christ" and "Get Down on my Knees and Start Pleasing Jesus." The band Korn appears in one of the Halloween episodes, where South Park is plagued by ghost pirates. It is the band's job to "solve the mystery" (this of course is a spoof of Scooby Doo). In the episodes climax, Korn plays "Falling Away from Me" in celebration of the solved mystery. In "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Cartman's hand puppet "Jennifer Lopez" (who pronounces her name as "Hennifer Lopez") recorded a hit single entitled "Taco Flavored Kisses", inciting the wrath of the "real" Jennifer Lopez character. Additional musical contributions to the show come from the band Primus, which performed the original opening and ending themes for the show, and formerly from Isaac Hayes, who voiced Chef's singing of usually-sexual songs to explain certain adult themes to the boys. The Chef song "Chocolate Salty Balls" was released as a single in the UK in 1998 to support the Chef Aid album and became a number one hit. Many episodes also feature highly melodramatic musical scores to comically exaggerate the emotional content of the scene. For example, melancholy music plays in the background when Timmy sends away his beloved pet turkey, Gobbles, in the episode "Helen Keller! The Musical". Controversies over South Park have occurred numerous times. The show depicts what many people find to be taboo subject matter, from its use of vulgarity (It Hits The Fan) to its satire of subjects such as religion and cults (such as All About Mormons, Bloody Mary, Red Hot Catholic Love, Fantastic Easter Special, and Trapped in the Closet), sexuality (The Death Camp of Tolerance), steroids (Up The Down Steroid), and global warming (Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow). Stone and Parker are self-described "equal opportunity offenders" and episodes often lampoon all sides of a contentious issue, rather than taking a concrete position. Apart from the continuously "vulgar" presentation of issues, South Park implements several recurring themes that it frequently uses, including current events, disabilities, political issues, racism, gay rights, death, environment, censorship, political correctness, abortion, sex, atheism, and religion, many of which are widely viewed as controversial. On August 26, 2007, Parker and Stone committed to three more seasons of South Park, so the show will run until at least 2011. They will continue to write, direct, and edit every episode of the show. Edited versions of South Park episodes, with the TV-14 rating, began broadcasting in syndication on September 19, 2005 on various local channels around the U.S. The series is co-distributed by Debmar-Mercury and 20th Television; the latter replaced Tribune Entertainment as co-distributor in early-2008, after Tribune ceased business. In March 2008, Comedy Central made all South Park episodes available for legal streaming on the South Park Studios website. However, legal issues prevent the episodes from being accessible in the UK, Australia and a few other territories outside US for now. Those are some mighty nice lives you got there, celebrities, politicians, and pretty much anyone who has become famous in that last 10 years. It’s be a damn shame if some people came along and made a show about four children and the crazy town they live in and witheringly mocked your limited talent, shallow understanding of geopolitical conflicts, and questionable sexuality. Yep, damn shame. Oh wait! Someone already did! Two people to be precise: Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Parker and Stone's Comedy Central cartoon has been America's best source of rapid-fire satire for a decade now, blasting hypocrites left and right and giving the final and, usually, the dirtiest word on Elian Gonzalez, Terry Schiavo, and numerous celebrity flip-outs. And, it has no fear about ridiculing people, whether it be religions (from Islam on the “Cartoon Wars” epic and Scientology on the “Trapped In The Closet” episode) to opponents of the show (Bill Donahue to Isaac Hayes, whose Chef character got skewered in an episode after Hayes left the show due to the aforementioned “Trapped In The Closet” episode). No one is safe from their killer satire. But the show's authentic, filthy heart is the four foul-mouthed, truth-telling Colorado boys at its center. Stan Marsh and Kyle Brovloski are the show’s heart and soul (I’ll let you decide which is which), being the moral and intelligent anchor to South Park’s universe, which is fitting since the characters are based on Parker and Stone themselves, basically making the two sane people in a crazy world. Kenny McCormick and his multiple deaths can be seen as an allegory to the show’s vulgarity: yes, it is a part of the show but not the center of its universe. It is just a tool (the vulgarity shocks people and gets them to notice the show; Kenny’s deaths are for cheap laughs), even though most people tune in for that. And, Eric Cartman, especially, is a creation for the ages: America's wants and appetites rolled up into one pudgy package. The show's best episodes are not the current-events riffs but the stories about the boys, like "Scott Tenorman Must Die," in which Cartman concocts a Grand Guignol revenge against a tormentor involving cannibalism and a trained pony. Parker and Stone put the "id" in kid, and for that, I respect their authoritah.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 26, 2008 20:56:12 GMT -5
34. Miami Vice Genre: Crime Drama. Created by: Anthony Yerkovich. Executive Producer(s): Michael Mann, Dick Wolf, Robert Ward, and Richard Brams. Starring: Don Johnson (Det. James “Sonny” Crockett), Philip Michael Thomas (Det. Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs), Edward James Olmos (Lt. Martin Castillo), Michael Talbott (Det. Stanley “Stan” Switek), John Diehl (Det. Lawrence “Larry” Zito 1984-1987), Olivia Brown (Det. Trudy “Big Booty” Joplin), Saundra Santiago (Det. Gina Navarro Calabrese), and Gregory Sierra (Lt. Lou Rodriguez 1984). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 5. Number of Episodes: 111. Running Time: 48 minutes, plus three 96 minute episodes. Original Channel: NBC. Original Run: September 28, 1984 – January 25, 1990. Spinoffs: None. The head of NBC's Entertainment Division, Brandon Tartikoff, wrote a brainstorming memo that simply read "MTV cops", and later presented the memo to series creator Anthony Yerkovich, formerly a writer and producer for Hill Street Blues. Yerkovitch indicated that he devised the concept after learning about asset forfeiture statutes that allow law enforcement agencies to confiscate the property of drug dealers for official use. The initial idea was for a movie about a pair of vice cops in Miami. Yerkovich then turned out a script for a two-hour pilot, titled "Gold Coast", but later renamed, Miami Vice. Yerkovich was immediately drawn to South Florida as a setting for his new-style police show. Miami Vice was one of the first American network television programs to be broadcast in stereophonic sound. In keeping with the show's namesake, most episodes focus on combating drug trafficking and prostitution. Episodes more often than not end in a large gun battle, claiming the lives of several criminals before they can be apprehended. An undercurrent of cynicism and futility underlies the entire series; The detectives repeatedly reference the "whack-a-mole" nature of drug interdiction, with its parade of drug cartels to replace those that are brought to justice. Co-Executive producer Anthony Yerkovich explained: Even when I was on Hill Street Blues, I was collecting information on Miami, I thought of it as a sort of a modern-day American Casablanca. It seemed to be an interesting socioeconomic tide pool: the incredible number of refugees from Central America and Cuba, the already extensive Cuban-American community, and on top of all that the drug trade. There is a fascinating amount of service industries that revolve around the drug trade — money laundering, bail bondsmen, attorneys who service drug smugglers. Miami has become a sort of Barbary Coast of free enterprise gone berserk. The choice of music and cinematography borrowed heavily from the emerging New Wave culture of the 1980s. As such, segments of each episode of Miami Vice resemble a protracted music video. As Lee H. Katzin, one of the show's directors, remarked, "The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words." These elements made the series into an instant hit, and in its first season saw an unprecedented 15 Emmy Award nominations. While the first few episodes contain elements of a standard police procedural, the producers soon abandoned them in favor of a more distinctive style. Of the many different production aspects of the show, "no earth tones" were allowed to be used. A director of Miami Vice, Bobby Roth, recalled: There are certain colors you are not allowed to shoot, such as red and brown. If the script says 'A Mercedes pulls up here,' the car people will show you three or four different Mercedes. One will be white, one will be black, one will be silver. You will not get a red or brown one. Michael knows how things are going to look on camera. Nick Nolte was considered for the role of Sonny Crockett, but since it was not lucrative for film stars to venture into television at the time, other candidates were looked at. Larry Wilcox, of CHiPs, was also a candidate for the role of Crockett, but the producers felt that going from one police role to another was not going to be a good fit. After dozens of candidates and twice delayed pilot shooting, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas were chosen as the vice cops. For Johnson, at the time 35, NBC had particular doubts about his several earlier unsuccessful pilots he starred in. After two seasons, Johnson threatened to walk from the series. The network was ready to replace him with Mark Harmon who had recently departed St. Elsewhere but Johnson relented and continued with the series until its end. The main characters on the show included: Detective James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson): A Sergeant of the Metro-Dade Police Department and an undercover detective. A former University of Florida Gators football star, he sustained a injury which put an end to his sports career. He was subsequently drafted by the U.S Army and served 2 tours in Vietnam, or as he calls it, "Southeast Asia Conference". In 1974, he became a Metro-Dade uniformed patrol officer, and later an undercover detective of the Vice Unit. Crockett's alias is Sonny Burnett, a drug runner and middleman. His vehicles include a Ferrari Daytona Spyder (later a Ferrari Testarossa), a "Scarab" offshore power-boat, and a sailboat on which he lives with Elvis, his pet alligator. Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas): A former New York police detective who travels to Miami as part of a personal vendetta against Calderone, the man who murdered his brother. After temporarily teaming up with Crockett, Tubbs follows his friend's advice and "transfers to a career in Southern law enforcement". He joins the Miami department and becomes Crockett's permanent partner. He often poses as Rico Cooper, a wealthy buyer from out of town. Lieutenant Martin Castillo (Edward James Olmos): He replaces the slain Rodriguez as head of the OCB. A very taciturn man, Castillo lives a reclusive life outside of work. He was formerly a DEA agent in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. During his time as an agent, he opposed the CIA in endorsing the trafficking of heroin to finance their overseas operations. Detective Gina Navarro Calabrese (Saundra Santiago): A fearless female detective, who after Crockett's divorce, held a brief romance with him. Even after their relationship did not progress, they still have a strong friendship. Detective Trudy "Big Booty" Joplin (Olivia Brown): Gina's patrol partner. Though tough, Trudy sometimes struggles to face consequences of her job, such as when she shot and killed a man. Later in the series she has an encounter with an UFO and an alien portrayed by the late, James Brown. Detective Stanley "Stan" Switek (Michael Talbott): A fellow police detective and good friend to Larry. Although a good policeman, later on in the series, he falls prey to a gambling addiction. Detective Lawrence "Larry" Zito (John Diehl 1984-1987): A detective and Switek's surveillance partner. He was killed in the line of duty when a drug dealer gave him a fatal drug overdose. Diehl enjoyed being on Vice but wanted to leave the show opting for a more creative opportunity in theater. Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez (Gregory Sierra 1984): A police Lieutenant who serves as commander of the Vice Unit. He is killed in the by an assassin hired to kill Crockett. The show also had several recurring characters: Isidore "Izzy" Moreno (Martin Ferrero): A petty criminal and fast talker, Izzy is always know for getting into quick money schemes and giving Crockett and Tubbs the latest information from the street. Nugart Neville "Noogie" Lamont (Charlie Barnett): A friend of Izzy's and informant for Crockett and Tubbs. Caitlin Davies-Crockett (Sheena Easton 1987-1988): A pop singer who is assigned a police bodyguard, Crockett, for her testimony in a racketeering case. While protecting Caitlin, Sonny falls in love with her and they get married. Following their marriage, Caitlin is killed by one of Crockett's former nemesis. Valerie Gordon (Pam Grier): A New York Police Department Officer and on-and-off love interest of Tubbs. Caroline Crockett Ballard (Belinda Montgomery): Crockett's former wife who moves to Georgia to remarry and raise her and Sonny's child, Billy. Many episodes of Miami Vice were filmed in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, an area which, at the time, was blighted by poverty and crime. Some street corners of South Beach were so run down that the production crew actually decided to repaint the exterior walls of some buildings before filming. The crew went to great lengths to find the correct settings and props. Bobby Roth recalled: I found this house that was really perfect, but the color was sort of beige. The art department instantly painted the house gray for me. Even on feature films people try to deliver what is necessary but no more. At Miami Vice they start with what's necessary and go beyond it. Miami Vice is to some degree credited with causing a wave of support for the preservation of Miami's famous Art Deco architecture in the mid-to-late 1980s; quite a few of those buildings (among them many beachfront hotels) have been renovated since filming, making that part of South Beach one of South Florida's most popular places for tourists and celebrities. The clothes worn on Miami Vice had a significant influence on men's fashion. They popularized, if not invented, the "T-shirt under Armani jacket"-style, and popularized Italian men's fashion in the United States. Don Johnson's typical lineup of Italian sport coat, T-shirt, white linen pants, and slip-on sockless loafers became a hit. Even Crockett's perpetually unshaven appearance sparked a minor fashion trend, inspiring men to wear a small amount of beard stubble, also known as a five o'clock shadow (or "designer stubble") at all times. On an average episode, Crockett and Tubbs wore five to eight different outfits, appearing in shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia and the show's other "approved" colors. Designers such as Vittorio Ricci, Gianni Versace, and Hugo Boss were consulted in keeping the male leads looking trendy. Costume designer Bambi Breakstone, who traveled to Milan, Paris, and London in search of new clothes, testified that, "The concept of the show is to be on top of all the latest fashion trends in Europe". Jodi Tillen, the costume designer for the first season, along with Michael Mann set the stylistic agenda. The abundance of Pastel colors on the show was reflected in Miami's Art-deco architecture. During its five-year run, consumer demand for unconstructed blazers, shiny fabric jackets, and lighter pastels increased. After Six formal wear even created a line of Miami Vice dinner jackets, Kenneth Cole introduced Crockett and Tubbs shoes, and Macy's opened a Miami Vice section in its young men's department. Crockett also boosted Ray Ban's popularity by wearing a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer (Model L2052, Mock Tortoise), which increased sales of Ray Ban's to 720,000 units in 1984. Many of the styles popularized by the TV show, such as the t-shirt under pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, and Ray-Ban sunglasses, have today become the standard image of 1980s culture. The influence of Miami Vice's fashions continued into the early 1990s, and to some extent still persists today. Miami Vice was noted for its innovative use of music, particularly countless pop and rock hits of the 1980s and the distinctive, synthesized instrumental music of Jan Hammer. Among the many well-known bands and artists who contributed their music to the show were a-ha, Devo, Jackson Browne, Meat Loaf, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, ZZ Top, Dire Straits, Depeche Mode, The Hooters, Iron Maiden, Godley and Creme, Cory Hart, Glenn Frey, U2, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Foreigner, The Police, Laura Branigan, Ted Nugent, Suicidal Tendencies, The Damned, and Billy Idol. Several artists even guest-starred in episodes, including Phil Collins, Miles Davis, The Power Station, Glenn Frey, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, and Sheena Easton. A particularly iconic scene from Miami Vice involves Crockett and Tubbs driving through Miami at night to Phil Collins' hit song "In the Air Tonight". A later hit by Collins, "Take Me Home", was used in the premiere of the show's second season. Jan Hammer credits executive producer Michael Mann for allowing him great creative freedom in underscoring Miami Vice. The collaboration resulted in memorable instrumental pieces, including the show's title theme, which climbed to the top of the U. S. Billboard charts in 1985, the first television show theme to do so since Peter Gunn; No television theme nor instrumental track have ascended to the top of the Billboard singles chart since. The Miami Vice original soundtrack, featuring Jan Hammer's #1 hit theme song and Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City" (a #2 hit), stayed on the top of the U. S. album chart for 11 weeks in 1985, making it the most successful TV soundtrack at the time. The Miami Vice Theme was so popular that is also garnered two Grammy awards in 1986. "Crockett's Theme", another recurring tune from the show, became a #1 hit in several European countries around 1987. During the show's run, three official soundtrack albums with original music from the episodes were released. Hammer has released several albums with music from the series; among them are Escape from Television (1987), Snapshots (1989) and, after countless requests from loyal fans, Miami Vice: The Complete Collection (2002). Miami Vice also popularized certain brands of firearms and accessories. Galco International named its gun holster the "Miami Classic" following its use by Don Johnson on the show. After Johnson became dissatisfied with his gun holster, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) sent their president, Rick Gallagher, to personally fit Don Johnson with an "Original Jackass Rig", which would later be renamed the Galco "Miami Classic". The Bren Ten, manufactured by Dornaus & Dixon, was a stainless-steel handgun used by Don Johnson during Miami Vice's first season. It remained Crockett's sidearm throughout season two, until Dornaus & Dixon went out of business in 1986. Smith & Wesson was offered a contract to outfit Johnson's character with a S&W Model 645 during season three. Two automobiles became very noteworthy during Miami Vice; the Ferrari Daytona and Testarossa. During the first two seasons and two episodes of the third season, Detective Sonny Crockett drove a black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4. Actually, the car was not a Ferrari, but a kit replica based on a 1980 Chevrolet Corvette C3 chassis. The car was fitted with Ferrari-shaped body panels by specialty car manufacturer McBurnie. Once the car gained notoriety, Enzo Ferrari filed a lawsuit demanding that McBurnie and others cease producing and selling Ferrari replicas, because they were taking his name and styling. As a result, the vehicle lasted until season 3, at which point it was blown to pieces in the season three premiere episode, "When Irish Eyes Are Crying". The fake Ferraris were removed from the show, with Enzo Ferrari donating two brand new 1986 Testarossas as replacements. Carl Roberts, who had previously worked on the Daytona kitcars, offered to build the stunt car. Roberts decided to use 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, which had the same base as the Testarossa and thus was perfect for the body pieces. The vehicle was modified to withstand daily usage on-set, and continued to be driven until the series ended. While Miami Vice did receive two new Ferraris, it also used a third Testarossa, which was the stunt car. Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, drives a 1963 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Convertible. Stan Switek drove a turquoise 1963 Ford Thunderbird. Gina Calabrese drove a 1971 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. When Stan and Larry were undercover, they drove a Dodge Ram Van. Other notable vehicles that appeared in Miami Vice included, brands such as Lamborghini, AMG Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maserati, Lotus, DeLorean, Porsche, and Corvettes. American muscle cars, such as the GTO, Trans Am, Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, or a Plymouth Barracuda also made appearances. Throughout the entire series, Sonny Crockett lived on an Endeavour 42 sailboat named the St. Vitus' Dance (in the pilot episode, he is seen on an Endeavor 40). Crockett also pilots a 39 foot Chris Craft Stinger 390 in the first season, and a Wellcraft 38 Scarab KV for the remainder of the show. The Scarab 38 KV was a 28-hued, twin 440-hp boat that sold for $130,000 in 1986. As a result of the attention the Scarab 38 KV garnered on Miami Vice, Wellcraft received "an onslaught of orders", increasing sales by 21% in one year alone. In appreciation, Wellcraft gave Don Johnson an exact duplicate of the boat as a gift. Afterward, Johnson was frequently seen arriving to work in it. In total, six real-life Scarab 38KV TV-boats were built, including the one given to Don Johnson. The latter boat has been confiscated twice by the IRS in Finland and currently is restored by a caring owner. Three others are located in New Jersey, (2nd season boat) "the Camera boat" in Norway, and the last one, which can only be seen for one still clip during the 5th season, is currently in Germany.[citation needed] Altogether, 100 copies of the boat (dubbed the "Scarab 38KV Miami Vice Edition") were built by Wellcraft. The Miami Vice graphics could also have been ordered on any other Scarab from 20-38 feet. Don Johnson also designed the 43 ft Scarab Don Johnson Signature Series, and he raced a similar one. Episode scripts were loosely based on actual crimes that occurred in Miami over the years. (Example: "Out Where the Buses Don't Run", 1985.) During its course, the series also took a look at controversial political issues like the Northern Ireland conflict, the drug war in South America (e.g. "Prodigal Son"), several episodes drawn on the Miami River Cops scandal (a real police corruption ring that involved narcotic thefts, drug dealing and murders), as well as several episodes Cuban exile guerrillas and drug trafficking, U.S. support of anti-communist generals and dictators in Southeast Asia and South America, regardless of their human rights records. Personal issues also arose: Crockett divorced from his wife Caroline (Belinda Montgomery) early in the series, and later his second wife Caitlin Davies (Sheena Easton) was killed by one of his enemies. In the three episodes "Mirror Image", "Hostile Takeover," and "Redemption in Blood", a concussion caused by an explosion caused Crockett to believe he was his undercover alter ego Sonny Burnett, a drug dealer. Tubbs had a running, partly personal vendetta with the Calderone family, a member of which had ordered the death of his brother Rafael, a New York City police detective. In the first seasons the tone was often very light, especially when comical characters such as Noogie (Charlie Barnett) and Izzy (Martin Ferrero) appeared. Later on, the content was almost always quite dark and cynical, with Crockett and Tubbs also having to fight corruption. Typically the darker episodes had no denouement, each episode ending abruptly immediately after a climax that almost always involved violence and death, often giving the episodes, especially in later seasons, a despairing and sometimes nihilistic feel despite the trademark glamour and conspicuous wealth. Given its idiosyncratic "dark" feel and touch, Miami Vice is frequently cited as an example of made-for-TV Neo-noir. Michael Mann, who served as executive producer for the majority of the show's five-year run, is often credited with being one of the most influential Neo-noir directors. Critics have objected to the shows usage of violence by dressing it with pretty photography. Others note that the coherent stories are full of drawn characters that have been junked in favor of the visual aspects and music. Civic leaders in Miami have also objected to the show's airing of the city's crime problems all across America. Most civic leaders however have been quieted due to the shows estimated contribution of $1 million per episode to the city's economy and boosting tourism to Miami. At the 1985 Emmy Awards Miami Vice was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series", "Outstanding Film Editing", "Outstanding Achievement for Music Composition for a series (dramatic underscore)", and "Outstanding Directing". At the end of the night, Miami Vice only won four Emmys. The following day, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner could only conclude that the conservative Emmy voters (at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences) simply refused to recognize an innovative new series that celebrated hedonism, violence, sex, and drugs. The show's popularity began to sag at the beginning of third season (1986–1987). The show was placed on the same time slot as CBS' Dallas, which resulted in hurting both shows. Michael Mann's decision to give the show a darker, grittier look, feel and touch, a definite change from the often lighthearted tone of the first two seasons, that involved darker, non-pastel wardrobes for the protagonists. Loyal fans were miffed at the series' new look and began to turn away, which led to the reintroduction of pastels for the fourth season (1987–1988). The original writers for the series left by the fourth season. There was a love affair between Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Caitlin Davies (Sheena Easton), and a plot with Crockett getting amnesia (in which he mistakes himself for his drug dealer alter- ego, and becomes a hitman). Jan Hammer departed from the series at the end of the fourth season. Tim Truman became his successor, but to many fans, it meant a farewell to yet another idiosyncratic element of the show's style. And thus production costs per episode increased, popularity and revenue plummeted. Michael Mann handed the role of executive producer to Dick Wolf prior to the beginning of the third season (1986-1987). Wolf had the show focus on real-life issues like the problems in Northern Ireland. Michael Mann left to focus working on his new television series, Crime Story. The fifth season (1988–1989) took the show on a more serious tone, with storylines becoming dark and gritty, enough so that even some of the most loyal fans were left scratching their heads. As the fifth season began, Olivia Brown recalled, "The show was trying to reinvent itself." Dick Wolf recalls in an interview for E! True Hollywood Story, after the fifth season, it was all just "...kind of over", and that the show had simply "run its course". Miami Vice was one ground breaking police programs of the 1980s, and one of the best-known shows of the 1980s. It had a huge impact on the decade's popular fashions as well as setting the tone for further evolution of police drama. Series such as Homicide: Life on the Street, NYPD Blue, and Law & Order, though being vastly different in style and theme from Miami Vice, followed its lead in breaking the genre's mold; Dick Wolf, creator & producer of Law & Order, was a writer & later executive producer of Miami Vice. Although sometimes heavily disputed by their producers, the movies “Bad Boys” (1995) and “Bad Boys 2” (2003) borrowed heavily on the concept of two undercover cops in the glitzy, upscale yet seedy world of South Florida law enforcement. The show has been so influential that the style of Miami Vice has often been borrowed or alluded to by much of today's pop culture in order to indicate or emphasize the 1980s decade. Its influence as a popular culture icon is still seen today, more than 20 years after appearing. Examples of this includes the episode "The One With All The Thanksgivings" from the American sitcom Friends. Flashback scenes from the 1980s in this episode shows the characters Ross and Chandler in pastel colored suits with rolled up sleeves like that of Sonny Crockett. Another more obvious example would be the computer and video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was published by Rockstar Games and is set in a stylized 1980s Miami. Two undercover police officers appear in a police sports car within the game when three felony stars are obtained by the player. It is believed that the two officers (one white and one black) represent the two leading characters of Miami Vice. One of the main characters, Lance Vance, was actually voiced by Philip Michael Thomas. In the prequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, there are two officers in the multiplayer mode named Cracker and Butts a parody of Crockett and Tubbs; these characters share the same role as the undercover cops in Vice City. Many of the styles popularized by the TV show, such as the t-shirt under pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, and Rayban sunglasses have today become the standard image of 1980s culture. Ironically, people today will often recognize the decade's image, yet are unfamiliar with the TV show, despite it being the phenomenon that gave birth to the style in the first place. However, it must be noted that pastels and the fashion accessories mentioned above were not emblematic of the entire decade, but that they stood for an era during the mid-eighties which lasted approximately two to four years. With the show's popularity notably waning around 1988 and different color schemes being adopted by the producers for the third season (1986–1987), "Vice"-themed, pastel-toned clothing went out of style, and fashion in general saw a departure from pastels and linen suits with the advent of bright, harsh neon colors, which became the next fad towards the onset of the 1990s. Likewise, the early 1980s were much more about earthtones in fashion and style. The show also had a lasting impact on Miami itself. It sparked a revitalization of the South Beach district of Miami Beach, as well as other portions of the Miami area, and increased tourism and investment. The fact that Crockett and Tubbs were Dade County officers and not City of Miami police represented the growing notion of metro government in Miami. In 1997, a county referendum changed the name from Dade County to Miami-Dade County. This allowed people to relate the county government to recognized notions and images of Miami, many of which were first popularized by Miami Vice. The Dade County Sheriff's Office (which had changed its name to Metro-Dade Police department prior to the show) now became the Miami-Dade Police Department. Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all Miami Vice seasons on DVD for regions 1, 2 and 4. Seasons 1 & 2 were released in 2005, and seasons 3 through 5 were released in 2007. The DVD release of the series had been significantly slow due to one of the signature features of the show: the heavy integration of 1980s pop & rock music. The music was difficult to source the rights to and acquire permission to use. In the November 2004 announcement for the DVD release of the series, Universal promised that all original music in the series would be intact. On August 21, 2007 Universal announced the November 13, 2007 release of the complete series, with all five seasons on 27 single-sided DVDs. The seasons will be in their own Digipak-style cases, and the set is housed in a faux alligator-skin package. Seasons 1 & 2 will contain six single-sided discs, rather than the three double-sided discs in the initial release. From under his loose linen jacket peeks a lime green T-shirt. His pants are unbelted. He has no socks. He hasn’t shaved in two days. On the way to work, he slips a Glenn Frey cassette into his black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 tape deck player, and “You Belong To The City” blares from the speakers as he zooms down the palm-tree-lined causeway. And, he is going to a job that could get him killed. It sure was a tough life being a vice squad detective in Miami circa 1985. The ultimate elevation of style over substance, Miami Vice was born when NBC programming czar Brandon Tartikoff uttered the fateful words “MTV cops” to producer Michael Mann and creator Andy Yerkovitch, who took the idea very, very seriously. The music (everyone from Lionel Richie to the Rolling Stones), the wardrobes (pastels only), the hipster guest stars (Bianca Jagger, G. Gordon Liddy, and practically every single musician in the industry during the 1980s), the rain-slicked nourish streets, Mann and Yerkovitch lavished time and money (upwards of $1 million per episode) on each and every detail. And then, there were the stars: Don Johnson, as living-on-the-edge cop Sonny Crockett, and Philip Michael Thomas, as his equally pouty partner Ricardo Tubbs. Two little-known actors who found it hard to keep their heads when the show exploded in the ratings: Johnson became a tabloid sex symbol, with the world held hostage to his courtship of and remarriage to Melanie Griffith; Thomas compared himself to Gandhi, telling an interviewer, “I don’t mind walking with the people.” But, the show wasn’t just about the style. Yes, it emphasized style over substance, but it still had some good substance. The episodes were well written, the characters were deep and complex, it was one of the first shows to make use of the story arc with Sonny going so deep undercover his own unit though he had turned to a life of crime, and there was a great chemistry between Thomas and Johnson. Besides, the style didn’t hurt the show. The atmospheric mood, slick MTV feel, cool music, and bright colors made Miami Vice one of the most visually stunning shows since TV switched to color. However, all the hype and hoopla came to an end when Mann, like a child hungering for new toys, jumped to the big screen; and the show sank to 53rd place in 1989. Soon, Vice slunk into the south Florida sunset. Luckily, for those still yearning for some mid-1980s magic, there are the DVDs.
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Post by Hulk With A Mustache on Jul 26, 2008 21:40:49 GMT -5
33. The Shield Genre: Crime Drama. Created by: Shawn Ryan. Executive Producer(s): Shawn Ryan, Kurt Sutter, Scott D. Rosenbaum, Scott Brazil, Kevin G. Cremin, Charles H. Eglee, and Kevin Arkadie. Starring: Michael Chiklis (Det. Vic Mackay), Walton Goggins (Det. Shane Vendrell), Benito Martinez (Captain, later Councilman, David Aceveda), CCH Pounder (Det., later Captain, Claudette Wyms), Jay Karnes (Det. Holland “Dutch” Wagenbach), Catherine Dent (Officer, later Sgt. Danielle “Danny” Sofer), Michael Jace (Officer Julien Lowe), Cathy Cahlin Ryan (Corrine Mackay), David Rees Snell (Det. Ronnie Gardocki), and Kenneth Johnson (Curtis “Lem” Lemansky 2002 - 2006). Country of Origin: United States. Number of Seasons: 7. Number of Episodes: 75. Running Time: 47 minutes. Original Channel: FX. Original Run: March 12, 2002 – present. Spinoffs: None. The Shield was created by Shawn Ryan. It is about an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department set up in the fictional Farmington district ("the Farm") of Los Angeles, using a converted church ("the Barn") as their police station, and featuring a group of detectives called the Strike Team who will stop at nothing to bring their version of justice to the streets. Michael Chiklis has top billing with his portrayal of Strike Team leader Vic Mackey. The show has an ensemble cast that will normally run a number of separate story lines through each episode. Detective Vic Mackey is the leader of the Strike Team, a four-man anti-gang unit based on the LAPD's real-life Rampart Division CRASH unit (Rampart was seriously considered as the series name and was even used in some early promotional ads for the series). The Strike Team uses a variety of illegal and unethical methods to maintain peace on the streets, while making a profit through illegal drug protection schemes and robbery. The Strike Team isn't above planting drugs on and coercing confessions out of gang members or framing them. Attempts to give the team a fifth member have frequently led to near-catastrophe for the group. The Shield has a variety of subplots, notably David Aceveda's political aspirations and internal confrontation of a previous sexual assault; Vic Mackey's struggle to cope with a failing marriage; and Julien Lowe's internal conflicts between his belief in the teachings of the Bible and his latent homosexuality. Common themes are the citizens' distrust of police, the social impact of drugs and gang warfare, and the conflict between ethics and political expediency. Most characters are portrayed as having both vice and virtue. For example, Vic's loving relationship with his children contrasts with his thuggish attitude towards police work; in addition, his brutality is generally directed at those who seem well deserving of such treatment: in Season 2, the Strike Team prepares to rob the "Armenian Money Train," a money laundering operation of the Armenian Mafia. Another episode had Mackey cornering a serial rapist, then letting him be attacked by a police dog before calling the dog off. The main characters on the show include: Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis): a corrupt but effective and motivated police officer; he steals drugs from drug dealers, beats and tortures suspects, and has committed murder more than once. Mackey sees his tactics as a means to an end. Despite his misdeeds, he is a devoted father, a loyal partner to other officers on his team, and will readily protect those he sees as innocent victims. He is the former leader of the Strike Team. Mackey's family life is one of the many plotlines followed throughout the series. His marriage to his wife, a nurse, failed after numerous instances of infidelity on Mackey's part (at least one of which was his relationship with Officer Sofer, which allegedly resulted in an illegitimate child (the writers have neither confirmed nor denied Vic is the father)). Mackey and his wife have three children, two of whom are autistic. The special education needs of Mackey's children are one of many sources of stress (monetary and emotional) for Mackey. Detective Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins): Vic Mackey's best friend and partner before the strike team was formed. His reckless attitude and questionable decisions often got him into trouble, after which Vic typically bailed him out. He has a wife, Mara, as well as a young son, Jackson. Shane requested a transfer from the strike team after he confessed to Vic that he killed fellow Strike Team member Curtis Lemansky. Vic threatened to kill Shane if he saw him again. He later canceled his request to transfer to his old spot in vice due to the fact that Vic was going to be forced into retirement. Detective Curtis "Lem" Lemansky (Kenny Johnson): a cop with a conscience. An original member of the Strike team, Lemansky was killed in the finale of the fifth season by Detective Shane Vendrell. Detective Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell): the Strike Team's surveillance and electronics expert. Though little is known about Ronnie, he has proven more and more in recent times to be the most solid, well-rounded member of the Strike Team and has remained fiercely loyal to Vic through thick and thin. The burn scars present on his face after he shaved his beard in Season 6 (given to him by Armadillo in Season 2) are proof of his loyalty to the team. Councilman David Aceveda (Benito Martinez): a politically ambitious former police captain elected to the Los Angeles City Council. He is one of Vic Mackey's main rivals, although often they have forged uneasy alliances for various reasons. He was orally raped at gunpoint, which eventually drove him to arrange a deal with druglord Antwon Mitchell to kill his rapist in prison. Captain Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder): a veteran detective. Claudette, along with her partner Dutch, can be viewed as the voice of morality at the Barn; as a result, she is often at odds with Vic over his tactics. Later in the series, Claudette revealed to Dutch that she has had lupus for fifteen years. In season 5, she is appointed Captain after several attempts in previous years. After finally being promoted to captain, Claudette proves to be (at least) as capable as her predecessors; however, the pressures of managing the Barn (and the Strike Team) soon prove difficult for her to bear. Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes): characterized by many as a socially inept nerd even though he is a successful police detective. Assigned to the Farmington District of Los Angeles, he is often the first called to investigate violent crimes because of his specialization in criminal profiling and serial killers. Along with his partner, Detective Claudette Wyms, Dutch is widely considered to be the moral center of the show owing to his willingness to do the right thing in spite of the temptation to engage in illegal police activities. However, a scene in one episode showed him strangling a live cat, leading many to wonder what really makes Det. Wagenbach tick. Dutch struggles at times with his tendency to assume the innocence of suspects because they are good-looking or from the middle or upper class. Dutch's relationship with Vic and Shane has been strained from the start, exacerbated by the brief relationship between Dutch and Vic's wife after her divorce from Vic. Sergeant Danielle "Danny" Sofer (Catherine Dent): a patrol officer who aspires to become a detective. She has an on-again-off-again sexual relationship with Vic and a complicated history with Dutch. She is assigned desk duty as a result of her pregnancy and takes maternity leave after the birth of her son, Lee. The identity of the father was initially unknown; later, in the sixth season episode "Chasing Ghosts," it was heavily implied that it was Vic. Shortly afterwards, Danny returned from maternity leave early so that she could take the position of Sergeant at the Barn. Officer Julien Lowe (Michael Jace): an officer assigned to the Strike Team who never took the Detective's Exam. During the formation of a new Strike Team, Claudette offered Julien to Kevin Hiatt as a possible addition to the team. Claudette made the offer to Julien, who was hesitant, mainly because of the thought of being partnered with Vic on a daily basis. After being assured that Mackey was going to be moved out of the team, Julien accepted the promotion and is now an official member of the Strike Team. Detective Kevin Hiatt (Alex O'Loughlin): an experienced former Homeland Security Agent who used to work the borders of Mexico. He is brought in as Vic's replacement when Vic is forced into retirement. He is also supposed to keep tabs on the strike team. Although Hiatt is the leader of the Strike Team, it seems that Vic is still more hands-on. In the final episode of season six, "Spanish Practices," Hiatt, after mishandling a gang initiation ceremony, is removed from the department by Captain Wyms, presumably ending his time on the show. The plots of the season were: Season 1: Season 1 premiered March 12, 2002. It gives an introduction to The Strike Team and the other characters of the Barn. Important plotlines are the aftermath of Vic's murder of Terry Crowley and Captain Aceveda's scheming to bring Vic and the Strike Team down; Dutch and Claudette's attempts at tracking down a serial killer; Julien's training under Danny and his struggle with his homosexuality; Vic's use of Rondell Robinson to control the local drug trade and the fallout; as well as the corrupt actions of Ben Gilroy. Season 2: Season 2 premiered January 7, 2003. The season mostly revolves around a brutal new drug-lord, Armadillo, a sadistic child rapist, who likes to set his rivals on fire using a tire necklace and gasoline, who begins to take over the drug trade in Farmington. Meanwhile, Officer Sofer is involved in a shooting of a Muslim man and has to deal with the fallout. This season is also heavily concerned with the Strike Team's plan to rip off the money train of the Armenian Mob, which ends up going down in the season finale. Season 3: Season 3 premiered March 9, 2004. The season mainly revolves around the aftermath of the Money Train Heist and its effects on the Strike Team, as the Armenian mob and also David Aceveda begins to suspect the Strike Team. In order to save the team, Lem (Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky) burns a majority of the money, ultimately leading to a confrontation which causes the Strike Team to split up in the season finale. Claudette had been promised a promotion to captain and throughout the season was in a supervising role, while Aceveda prepared to move onto city council. Near the end of the season an assistant district attorney was murdered, and Wyms and Dutch discovered she had been a heavy drug user for the past 3 years. Wyms explored further and became very unpopular with the D.A. and around the Barn because she was (against orders) reopening the assistant DA's closed cases. This resulted in her being denied her promotion to captain of the Farmington District. Season 4: Season 4 premiered March 15, 2005, with the addition of Glenn Close taking over the role as Farmington's Captain. The season dealt with the fallout from the Strike Team disbandment. Shane Vendrell, with new partner Army, enters into a dangerous situation with major drug lord Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson), and seemingly accepts an order to kill Vic Mackey. The police were outraged after two officers were kidnapped and subsequently found murdered. In the end, the team gets back together and manages to bring Antwon into jail. The season also deals with the controversial asset forfeiture policies of the new captain; Julien's opposition to these policies; and David Aceveda dealing with the psychological aftermath of his sexual assault incident from the previous season. The season concludes with Captain Rawlings losing her job over a dispute with the DEA. This plot twist reflected a real-life need for Glenn Close to return to New York. One of the secondary plots involves Claudette and Dutch being continually put on the sidelines because of Claudette's refusal to apologize to the DA for reopening the cases of a public defender who was discovered to be high during many of her trials. Besides being an embarrassment to the DA's office, many of the convictions in question were overturned. This cost Claudette her shot at being the Farmington Captain and Dutch as her partner suffered being marginalized in the barn. Season 5: Season 5 premiered January 10, 2006. The season revolved around Internal Affairs Department Lt. Jon Kavanaugh's (played by Forest Whitaker) investigation into the Strike Team, representing one of the greatest threats the team has ever faced. As a result of Kavanaugh turning one of Vic's informants, IA became aware of Lem stealing heroin which he never turned in. Having found the heroin, IA is capable of arresting Lem, but Kavanaugh wants him to incriminate the whole team and has him wear a wire, which he warns the team of and they use it to embarrass IA. Kavanaugh puts on any form of pressure he can, finds out about Vic's share of the Money Train money, and ultimately arrests Lem having made a deal with Antwon Mitchell to put Lem there if convicted. Vic stands with him and gets bail, while Shane is worried he'll be turned. Claudette finally gets her shot as the captain of the Barn which she reluctantly accepts. The season concluded with Shane Vendrell murdering his friend and fellow team member Lem with a hand grenade. “Wins and Losses”: The producers of The Shield produced a 15-minute "promosode", which premiered on Google on February 15, 2007 to bridge the gap between Seasons 5 and 6. The episode focuses on the aftermath of Lem's death, including his funeral and flashbacks as co-workers reflect upon Det. Lemansky's life. The episode was said to have cost between $500,000 and $1 million to produce and was on Bud.TV for a 4 week period and later released to AOL and other media outlets. The "promosode" is also one of the special features included on the Season 5 DVD set. Season 6: Season 6 premiered on FX on April 3, 2007. Continuing directly after season 5, Vic and the Strike Team are distraught over Lem's death. Shane has been overcome by guilt and becomes reckless and suicidal. Kavanaugh refuses to let the case die and resorts to planting evidence and coercing witnesses to lie about the Strike Team. Dutch and Claudette begin to suspect his integrity. Vic learns from Claudette that the Chief plans to force him into early retirement — and vows to wreak bloody vengeance on Lem's killer before losing his badge. Claudette learns that the Barn could be shut down if no improvements are made by the time quarterly crime statistics are released. Season 6 was originally intended to be aired as the second half of Season 5 (in the same way that HBO split up the last season of The Sopranos). However, FX decided instead to refer to these ten episodes as "Season 6." Season 7: According to Michael Ausiello at TV Guide, Season 7 will premiere on September 2, 2008, and will consist of 13 one-hour episodes. This will be the final season according to its creator and the network. This has also been confirmed by a commercial on FX. The Shield has won critical praise for its realism, particularly in its portrayal of gang violence in Los Angeles. Although names of actual gangs are not used, the portrayals are based on real gangs. Latino gangs with names such as "Los Magnificos" (or "Los Mags"), the Byzantine Latinos (or "Byz-Lats") and the "Toros" are a constant thorn in the Strike Team's side in the early seasons of the show, whilst African American gangs become more prominent in later episodes. In particular, a gang calling itself the "One-Niners" is central to the plot of Season 4. Like the notorious real-life Blood and Crip gangs, the One-Niners identify themselves strongly with one color (in this case purple), wearing it on various items of clothing. There are also a number of stories set in Korean neighborhoods as well as plots involving Armenian gangsters. To enhance its realism, the show makes very little use of background music. There is some controversy around the show's depiction of police corruption. The Strike Team's illegal activities are often backed up with convincing rationalizations by its members, while various police and government authorities who try to bring them to justice or otherwise criticize them are often portrayed negatively. Some argue that this technique presents the reality of police corruption and brutality and attempts to explain it intelligently without demonizing it. Others argue that the show is essentially a defense of police corruption and brutality, portraying effective police work as impossible without such tactics and presenting Vic Mackey, in particular, as a hero despite his extensive corruption. In Region 1, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Shield on DVD for seasons 1 - 5. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases it elsewhere, and holds the rights for all Region 1 season sets of The Shield as of 2008, including seasons 6 and 7. Region 1 sets (released by 20th Century Fox) are displayed in 4:3 (fullscreen), while international releases (distributed by Sony Pictures) display 16:9 (widescreen). Sony Pictures re-released seasons 1-5 on March 25th 2008, all seasons in region 1 are now displayed in 16:9 widescreen, as they are in international releases. There are several differences between the S1 & S2 boxsets, with slightly fewer extras on the R2 boxsets and with episode 5:12 drastically shortened. In the first episode of The Shield, we meet the Strike Team of L.A.’s Farmington district and learn that one member (played by Reed Diamond) is a mole from Internal Affairs who has been put on the team by Captain David Aceveda to catch team leader Vic Mackay and his team doing some illegal activities. As the episode progresses, we get an idea about what this show will be about: interesting cat-and-mouse game with the Strike Team being watched and wondering if they will find and what actions they will take to not get caught. Then, as that first episode reaches its end, during a raid to take down a major drug dealer who has never before been caught with product, Mackay takes the gun of the drug dealer, points at the mole, and shoots him in the head. In that one in moment, all our expectations about The Shield are shattered like the skull of the man Mackay shot. Although this police drama was inspired by a cop-corruption scandal of the 1990s, it debuted in 2002 and had a distinctly post-9/11 theme: what moral compromises are we willing to accept in the name of safety? It centers on Vic Mackey (Chiklis), an extremely effective and extremely shady cop heading an LAPD unit that takes down murderers and pushers, usually trampling the Bill of Rights and pocketing dirty money for themselves in the process. The show was quite unlike other cop shows. It has storylines that last a whole season, from the Strike Team’s elaborate plan to rob the Armenian mob’s money train to Internal Affairs Department Lt. Jon Kavanaugh's extensive investigation of The Strike Team; and, each are quite captivating. It has very deep and complex characters: besides Mackay, there’s the friendly but reckless Shane, the confident detective but socially awkward Dutch, the moral and quick to anger Claudette, and the opportunistic Aceveda. And, the acting is top notch, with the regulars pulling their weight in each episode very well and featuring great performances from guest actors like Glen Close and Forest Whitaker. Hell, this show proved Anthony Anderson had acting chops when he played the cunning and sadist Antwon Mitchell in Season 4. But, what makes The Shield so great is how it almost makes other cop shows look like rookies on the beat. With the acting and writing all coming together perfectly, The Shield depicts a dirty, red-in-tooth-and-claw L.A. where no one, from cop to politician, white, black or brown, is entirely selfless. No show does a better job of making you feel your TV screen needs a good Windexing when an episode is over.
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