Doubling down on dumb: Liberty Mutual introduces a puppet named.......Liberty Biberty

 To think it all started with a struggling actor (Tanner Novlan, The Bold & The Beautiful) who couldn't remember a simple line.

Seven years later, "Liberty Biberty" has been given life in the form of a fuzzy yellow puppet with a crown on its head.

The puppet debuted earlier this month, and even shared an ad with the struggling actor.

In my day job, I work for a local insurance agency that represents Liberty Mutual, in addition to several other companies. Someone on reddit mentioned that the struggling actor spots, plus the comedy team of Limu Emu & Doug, are meant to annoy viewers. That's not how you generate business, folks.

I can recall when Liberty Mutual sponsored outdoors shows back in the day. I'd just as soon find some of those vintage spots, since the current mascots grate on my nerves. Liberty Mutual figures that their newest mascot might appeal to, well, you know, kids.

Yeah, that'll make a great Christmas gift. NOT!

Cinema Saturdays: Li'l Abner (1959)

 Al Capp's seminal comic strip, Li'l Abner, had previously been adapted for the big screen in 1940, with Jeff York in the title role, and Buster Keaton in a supporting role.

19 years and a Broadway run later, Abner and the denizens of Dogpatch USA are back, this time in a musical spun of the Broadway show. Peter Palmer has the title role this time, with a supporting cast that includes Leslie Parrish, Julie Newmar, Stubby Kaye, and Billie Hayes as Mammy Yokum.

Within the next decade, some, like Palmer (Custer, 1967), Kaye (the game show Shenanigans, 1964), Hayes (HR Pufnstuf, 1969), and Newmar (My Living Doll, 1964, and as Catwoman on Batman, 1966-7) gravitated to television, with varying results. As previously documented, there was a TV adaptation that didn't sell around 1967.

Family Fridays: The Brady 500 (1990)

 Following the success of "A Very Brady Christmas" in 1988, CBS brought back The Bradys as a winter replacement series in February 1990. As we documented when reviewing the series, the network mistakenly assumed viewers would gravitate to the franchise, 9 years after The Brady Brides tanked on NBC. Yes, it was on a Friday night, but viewer tastes had changed in the 16 years since the original series had ended.

I remember sitting in the kitchen, watching the show on a battery powered TV, since the parents weren't interested.

As you already know, Maureen McCormick decided not to return, though she's changed her tune in recent years, so Leah Ayres was cast as Marcia. Greg (Barry Williams) had gotten married in the last film to Nora (Caryn Richman, ex-The New Gidget), and, as we'll see by the end, Bobby (Mike Lookinland) becomes the 4th Brady sibling to walk down the aisle.........

Sherwood Schwartz & CBS executives thought bringing in MTV doll Martha Quinn would pull in the youth demo, since she had her own show on MTV, airing 4 nights a week at that point. However, she was savaged by critics, undeservedly.

Rating: A-.

Yes, there are emergency panelists (Match Game, 1975)

 While Charles Nelson Reilly was away taping Uncle Croc's Block, Gary Burghoff (M*A*S*H) usually filled in. However, at the start of Daylight Saving Time, Burghoff missed an episode of Match Game, forcing the producers to scramble. Announcer Johnny Olson filled in, and, as you'll see, fit in quite well......

Wild West Wednesdays returns next month.

Here we go again: Dumb Donald wants back the money the courts gave to E. Jean Carroll

 Just days ago, a Federal court ordered president Trump to pony up $5.6 million to E. Jean Carroll. Should we be surprised at all that the biggest skinflint this side of Ebenezer Scrooge wants it back?

Hmmmmmmm, welllllllllllll, of course not!

Orange Cheapo wants the money back because he thinks the Supreme Court will finally see things his way. This particular case is over, fella. Deal with it.

But Trump can't deal with it. His ego, of course, won't allow him to. Just because he holds the highest office in the country doesn't mean he's untouchable, but he thinks the opposite.

As Charles Dickens saw it, Scrooge eventually saw the light. Trump's happiest with the lights of cameras in front of him. I'm begging someone to do a cover of the Little River Band's "Lonesome Loser", and make it about Trump. It'd be fun.

Recent bouts of GOP stupidity

 You knew it would happen.

The phoniest sports fan on the planet, Donald John Oscar Madison Trump, picked Argentina to make it 2 World Cups in a row. On Sunday, Spain won the Cup for the first time since 2010, their only other Cup title, 1-0 in double overtime.

After the game, Dumb Donald tried to bigfoot the moment, like he did last year. The Spaniards wanted none of that, and quietly escorted him off to the side. Argentina, on the other hand, became the latest victim of Trump's kiss of death.

Conspiracy theorists worried about Lionel Messi and Argentina, though, could rest easy.

You know by now that former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, a Senator misrepresenting Alabama when he lives in Florida (so they say), wanted to run for a higher office in Alabama. Last we heard, however, he might've been talked out of it.

Five years earlier, Herschel Walker moved back from Texas to Georgia to run for Senate, and got spanked at the polls. Dumb Donald rewarded him with an ambassadorship to the Bahamas.

Now, Dumb Donald has endorsed embattled MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to run for governor of Minnesota, where MyPillow is based, to unseat Tim Walz.

Small problem, as Jesse Dollemore explains.

So Lindell is registered to vote in Texas, but not Minnesota? His campaign is DOA. Trump's endorsement feels more like another kiss of death. The GOP just loves carpetbaggers, don't they?

Maybe the NBA champs should be renamed the Knickhausens....nah

 Saturday Night's Main Event was the centerpiece to the annual Fanatics Fest, wrapping today in New York. WWE made sure to give the fans some real thrills with help from the NBA champion Knicks.

The program's final segment had Jalen Brunson, sporting a brace on his wrist, joining WWE champion Roman Reigns in the ring, only to be interrupted by Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, accompanying Seth Rollins. The two hoopsters were injured, and not cleared for physical activity.

Earlier in the night, Danhausen, credited with helping the Knicks end a 53 year title drought, was facing JD McDonagh of the Judgment Day stable. Some "Minihausens" tried to help in a No-disqualificaion match, but McDonagh and his cornerman, AAA Mega Champion Dominick Mysterio, fended them off. That's when Danhausen pulled out his wild card..........

You can tell Karl-Anthony Towns had been preparing for something like this. Needless to say, Danhausen won the match with an inverted DDT.

Makes ya wish NBC-Universal simulcast this on NBC, the home of the NBA, and original home of Saturday Night's Main Event......