Their offenses are as different as night & day, but both deserve the weasel ears this week.
Lee Silber, 61, made headlines this week when it was revealed that he had developed an unhealthy obsession with WWE Diva Maryse Ouellette. TMZ, predictably, caught hold of the story, but has not been able to contact Silber to verify Ms. Ouellette's accusations. Silber supposedly has promised to take the former Divas champion to Heaven with him. I guess it hasn't occurred to him that the object of his affection is, well, already spoken for! Ms. Ouellette has been linked romantically with fellow WWE star Michael "The Miz" Mizanin for a while now, and while the usually motormouthed Mizanin hasn't spoken publicly on the subject, don't ya think for once the dude could be the least bit offended that a guy nearly twice his age is hitting on his girl long distance?
As for Mitch Watson, he's the principal writer for Cartoon Network's Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated, which wrapped its 1st season in the US on Tuesday (much sooner in Canada, as fellow blogger Scoobyfan1 will helpfully point out). When the series launched a year ago, it was hailed as a fresh start for the 40-something franchise. However, over the last three months, it has become apparent that the reboot was in truth, a bastardization of said franchise.
What Watson has done, you see, is establish a completely new continuity, one in which team leader Fred was abducted from his supposed real parents as a baby and raised by the corrupt mayor of their home town of Crystal Cove. The parents of the rest of the team disapproved of the gang taking up the detective business while still in high school, or just doing it altogether, which to me is just as unnatural, and suggests a bigger plot looms as yet unspoken.
Think back to the 2002 "Scooby-Doo" feature film. Early on, the gang splits up over dissent and mistrust, which are part of the reason the team breaks up at the end of season 1 of the current series. CN hasn't divulged when season 2 will begin, and, right now, I honestly don't care. Watson has ruined the show for its loyal fans far worse than anything prior (i.e. the introduction of everyone's least favorite supporting character, Scrappy-Doo), and will need to have someone come in to try to clean things up for him in season 2 and beyond, because if he remains the sole credited writer, the series will end being cancelled when viewers turn away in droves. It was one thing for Watson to crap on another Hanna-Barbera entry (1971's Funky Phantom), but the implication I get is that he's a fanboy putting his own spin on the franchise, whether long-time fans agree with it or not. The dude is in over his head, and needs help, and he'd better cop to it, soon!
Thanks for the plug hobbyfan :)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you bring up Mitch Watson; what I can't understand is why the current Scooby series is a seperate quality as far as writing goes, and why the 1998-2001 Scooby DTV movies as well as the last couple movies are a seperate quality altogether.
Actually, that's not quite what I meant, let me try something else: why did the movies seem to have better quality writing then the current series.
Surely Mitch isn't the only writer Warner Brothers has for this series. Where are the writers from Zombie Island, etc.? If Warner Brothers/Turner/Time Warner owns all of Hanna Barbera's properties, why doesn't Warner Brothers hire some of the writers from Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, etc.?
I'm sure those writers are still around, and would love to work on a Scooby project again. The writing quality of Scooby has gone a bit downhill in the last few years, i'll agree to that.
With that being said, where's all the writers from the old days of Scooby Doo? Surely they all aren't retired or deceased by now? If many of them are still around, bring them in and show the current group how things are done.
While I cannot be certain of all the details, I have to guess that Watson made a pitch to WB suits for a new Scooby series that was a radical take on the franchise. What he did was cast aside 41 years of stories, including the DTV series and start from scratch, hence the idea that Fred was abducted as a baby. What Watson wanted to do, aside from playing to the internet as I've suspected, is also appeal to the "Twilight" crowd, despite the obviously snarky, left handed disses toward the genre in general. He did us wrong, and, oh, how he's going to regret it!!!
ReplyDeleteI think you're being a bit harsh on Watson. I honestly don't think he is trying to recreate anything from the movies.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't mind the alternate take on the Scooby gang because something like what we've been seeing in SDMI has been long overdue. Setting up the gang as they were 40 + years ago isn't going to cut it with more sophisticated audiences and it was time for a change in approach.
Believe it or not I'd always wanted to see the gang's personalities fleshed out more and the season long arc was also a great addition. Yes, finding out about Fred is a big departure from the show's past incarnations but I take it as part of THIS show. Each of the past incarnations tends to be in its own world and very little of them has much in common with each other save the characters' names and basic appearance. It's not unlike the comics and their multiple universes. I prefer to think of this as Scoobyverse #213.
I'll admit that SDMI is flawed and there are things I would change (such as taking a more serious tone, getting rid of some of the sillier mysteries and focusing on the overall arc more) but I still enjoy the show and the winks and nods to SD's earlier incarnations.
Even Joe Ruby & Ken Spears who created the characters have seen the show and admitted the show is much closer to what they would have done way back when had they been given the time and money to do so.
I'm curious what Season 2 will bring but I'm looking forward to finding out.
The way I see it is, if it ain't broken, and there's reason to believe there are two schools of thought in that regard, there's no need to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWe all agree that the current series exists in a different continuity from past incarnations, including the still-ongoing DTV movie series. For someone who isn't quite as familiar with the franchise, well, that's the audience I think they're looking for. For old-timers like us, it's just another middle finger from WB/CN. Nothing more.
Hi Hobbyfan, just wanted to say I love your blogs, and sorry I haven't done any other blogs but real life stuff has come up and I haven't really wanted or had the time or strength to update the blog sine Late July.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I wanted to leave a comment because I was looking at a TV listings site called Zap2it, which has pretty accurate listings(or at least has had them every time I've looked at the site).
I'm leaving this comment, because it looks like Boomerang is getting their act together as far as programming goes; to wit, check this sample of shows out that I saw(keeping in mind that so far the listings were only updated until 10 AM Pacific time on October 3rd).
On October 3rd, Boomerang has the following listed: Funky Phantom at 7:30 AM Pacific, Goober and the Ghost Chasers at 8 AM Pacific, The Addams Family(not sure what series) at 8:30 AM Pacific, 9 AM Pacific has the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, and 9:30 AM Pacific has What's New Scooby Doo.
Funky Phantom and Goober and the Ghost Chasers haven't been seen in... well forever on Boomerang(OK, for Funky Phantom its been since 2007 or 08 at least) so if this is true(and going by Zap2it's track record in the past it usually is), Boomerang might have a good October in store for it and the viewers.
I'll try and update you if I have more info; until then, thanks for the great blogs and i'll try and update my own blogs soon as well.